Car School...

[1GRWD]

First post, so bear with me...
Basically, I'm currently a sophomore majoring in Mechanical Engineering at Penn State University, University Park campus. As I'm sure many people have stepped in and said before, what I want to do is eventually open my own performance tuning shop.
Penn State isn't working for me, and I realize at this point, that even if I would graduate with my degree in Engineering, I would not be able to simply go out and open my own place--obviously there are certifications and what-not involved with working on automobiles of any sort.
So, here's my question: what would you recommend? school wise? I want to be able to go to a good/great technical school or any type of specialty school that would give me the means to be able to perform perpetual surgery on cars, particularly DSMs (since that's what I own), and other relative imports. I would love to go to a specialty school that concentrates basically on the modification and fabrication of performance, cosmetics, sound, and all around customization. (everything from paint, to car audio, to racing setups--all out).
Personally, knowing that (obviously) I'm not going to be able to do it all within a reasonable amount of time to get this thing happening within the next 10 years of my life, I need to concentrate on those areas that interest me.. Performance is #1 priority... the mechanics of it. and obviously drivetrain and suspension (brakes). Followed by electrical, then body-work (custom body kits, fabbing roll cages..etc)..
So.. here's where you tell me where you think a great school(s) would be for me to attend... and what-for? Obviously if it's a full-time 4 year tech school, then I would be going for something general--a curriculum. Whereas if I got to go to a school for just body work, and then just engine, etc... you get the picture.
And please keep in mind, if I'm not handling PSU Engineering curriculum (because it is seriously BS), then MIT is out ...
Any/all help/suggestions/support is totally appreciated.
(btw: if you don't have anything applicable here, I appreciate in advance that you keep your undesireable opinions and feelings to yourself--thank you)

 

[Dfish1]

i considered doing what your doing but i think i'm gonna go for transportation design. as far a schools, maybe wyotech and uti (i think, whatever the one is in arizona). prolly the best education is to work with a tuner shop for a couple of years

 

[half-cocked]

Check UTI, they have a program through Hot Rod magazine called Hot Rod U. I once considered it but I got hired on at the fire dept. It focuses on performance and what not. Thats about the closest thing I have heard of.

 

[1GRWD]

thanks for the suggestions guys.
i looked into both wyotech and UTI before..
and since you mentioned UTI, I've done more looking into it..
--anyone else have any other ideas, it's much appreciated..
like if there are any specialty schools i can check out for body work (like custom body-kits, or custom audio) or something along those lines...
thanks again

 

[SpeedFreak03]

Im not sure about custom body work, but if you want to learn car audio then go over to CC and train there, or go to any car audio place and ask if you can "intern" there. I really dont think there is a school for car audio tho. Well good luck with your education and shop!

 

[Thomas91169]

im doing it this way

going to a jc and getting auto tech certified, then going to take my ase certs to become ase certified. then im taking a auto body certification class, cause i want to learn how to paint cars hella good. i then will take a few business managment classes. i want to open a shop for all things automotive, but instead of going balls to the wall and probably failing, im going to rent out a 2 garage suite, which is about 1000 a month, has 2 offices and 2000sqft of working space. then if that works then go from there.

UTI was really expensive, but i heard its so much fun doing the hot rod U cause you get an engine and have to build it up then they have dyno contests and such.

 

[btracer]

i too go to PSU and also want to open a tuning shop eventually... so far i have just tried to get my foot in the door by talking to every car guy i know, hangin out at the shops and such. im going to take a business major and figure the other shit out later, id love to see some more advice for this guy cus it pertains to me too

 

[G_S_X]

my autotech class in highschool got me ase certified for Free

i remember at the end of that class they tried to get everyone who passed to go to whyotech , but i didnt :\ JC babY!

 

[carl5463729]

There is also ohio diesel. I go to a trades school through my high school and ohio diesel came in. They just don't specialize in diesel. It seems like it's a good school. After the one and a half year program, they have steps programs, where the car companies pay for all your learning on thier cars. I know they have BMW there. i think they might have audi, mercedes, and some other perfomrance companies. Ohio diesel has over $1.5 million dollars worth of beamers in thier school. I live in buffalo New York, so i was thinking of that or UTI in PA.

 

[ETK-kAos]

I'm from Montana as you all can tell by looking under my screenname, and I have posted about opening my own shop. Maybe this could end up being a joint venture for all of us? Find a school for us all to go to, or a plan of action. Then just go for it. I have looked into Wyotech but it is very expensive, around $20k (from what I have heard). So I pretty much ruled that out? I would love to also hear people's ideas.

Thanks,
Anthony

 

[1GRWD]

joint venture? sounds good. right now I'm seriously convinced that UTI is a good school. Hot Rod U looks nice..and the courses that go along with it seem very reasonable. I'm not positive yet, but I sent in for an information packet that has to do with financial information and what-not, because I couldn't find any of that on the website.

Personally, I'd love to have people to go through that with me. Open a tuner shop, or find work, or whatever..? I *had* a friend who was going to want to do all of this with me, but he's going to Penn Tech for welding and fabrication, or something, now, and he and I havne't exactly seen eye to eye. So. Yeah, if you want to keep in touch, works for me. But anymore ideas?--keep em comin..

I want to work on pretty much any car...and give it something decent.. (if I can stay away from anything with a Ford logo, I'd be a bit happier though..) Got lots of plans and ideas.. maybe post a new forum on it. but anyway.. keep it comin guys--I definitely appreciate all the ideas and insight.

 

[nine5raptor]

This is kinda off topic but needs to be thrown in. Seriously think about what you are going to do before commiting to a Wyotech or UTI type school. I know 2 graduates of Wyotech, one of which is family. Both wish they had never gone there. Don't get me wrong, they both had a great time working on cars and testing their own at the private dragstrip, but neither use what they learned.

I don't know the offical program names for what the guys did, but I will describe them.

One (the family member) did the custom interior/hot rod paint program. He is now a manager for Quicktrip as no one will hire a person just out of school who does not have a long list of cars to show their talent.

The other did the computer aided diagnostics program. He is back changing oil for valvoline and working on a nursing degree. He tried working at several shops, but they didn't have enought need for him. Basically he would stay at the shop for 10 hours but get paid for only 3 (thats all the work they had for him). As he said it, "Only the old guys with 30 years experience could make any money."

If you want to open your own shop, look at doing a business or engineering degree and working at a local shop for experience and contacts (very, very, very important!)

Just my thoughts.

 

[1GRWD]

You make a very good point, nine5raptor, ... I really appreciate the insight. Anyone else have any personal, or third person experience, I'd appreciate that as well...

I think what I'll do (when I get some time), is try emailing, or calling people... Like if I could get into contact with the guys from MachV, Buschur Racing, Extreme Motorsports, maybe even John Sheppard and some others... see what they did, and where they went to school, and how they got to where they are now...
see what routes they took. I realize that they're all generally DSM-specialty, however that's kind of the road I want to stay on. For as much as I want to be able to work on pretty much anything that's not a hunk of crap built into a frame, I'm gonna be a DSMer for life...that's the area I want to specialize in..

 

[95Eclipsers]

Wyotech is were my best friend is now! he loves it! we will be opening our own tuner shop witin the next 2 years, AND YES there are Car audio schools , im leavin for the largest one in january, www.mobiledynamics.com , were i will be gettin my MECP certification, i will be takin car of all the ice for the bussiness, audio video navigations... ect.
theres also
Ritop
installer institute
and a few others

 

[nine5raptor]

I guess my biggest point was if you are going to go a specialty route in terms of schooling, make sure the doors are open before you try to go through.

1GRWD, you have the right idea. Call others that are in the business and see what they did. I bet most of them worked elsewhere and their hobby continued to consume more and more of their time until it became a career in itself.

I am about finished with school myself and looking back, I wish I would've spent more time in the beginning researching companies and talking to hr people. If business owners/managers are smart, they will be happy to answer a few q's. They will probably keep tabs on you too after that as by showing your interest, you are also showing your ambition and foresight.

In the end, it really isn't what you know, but who you know that gets you a job.

 

[BlackNWhiteRS]

I've considered doing such things. I'm doing Computer Engineering right now at USC, and somewhat hating it. My biggest concern is like what the other guy said, tryign to find a job, especially one that will pay decent.

 

[DROOPY209]

My friend went to the main Phoenix, AZ campus for UTI and took the auto/diesel program. while living in phoenix, he got in 3 car accidents.
he finally finished the program and came back home with no work, even though he finished at the top of his class. he was promised to have a job with a big company before he gradutated. he was also supposed to get $2,500 in snap-on tools which he never got the certificate for.

he now works at a car wash.
nobody wants to hire him cuz they say he doesnt have any experience.

he was promised that he would be making over 60,000 a year.
he makes about 13,000 a year right now.

he highly regrets ever going to UTI.
he said he learned most of the stuff he knows in his high skool auto mechanics class

 

[m1nd64m3]

I went to UTI last year and let me tell you it is in no way worth it. finding a job out of school is extremely hard. that is why im going back to school for engineering. uti was fun but it is nothing like they describe it. the graduate programs are good there but they are not as easy to get in as they say, and you will end up having to go out of state for a job where they find it or pay the 6,000$-13,000$ for the training.

they talk about how they will give you 1,100 worth of tools from snapon, i got a impact gun, impact sockets, metric sockets and a torque wrench. that is no were near 1,100. hot rod u is fun but its only 3 seperate 3-week sessions. one of them you work on lt1's,hondas,and even a gst. the other 2 you build a 350 with stock gm parts and you put it in a t-bucket and dyno it, then add performance parts to the motor and dyno it again.

UTI is mostly book work and notes. only 1/4 or less is hands on. so you end up sitting in a classroom for 6 hours filling in notes. and if you do go to uti do not bring your dsm there or you will have door dings all over the place.

 

[1GRWD]

so.. now i'm getting nowhere! I really appreciate the input guys. Those last 2 posts were completely discerning though... Like I was actually looking forward to trying to UTI, but now I don't know. What should I do???
Like I said earlier, I'm working on emailing all of the tuner shops I can find... see if anyone has any insight. Hopefully that will turn out better results and more hope.
I was originally thinking about Penn Tech, but they don't have a strict-automotive curriculum (at least not listed on the website).. so I don't know.
Maybe I'll look back into that.
If not... who knows? Maybe I'll major in business up here and then look to get all my certs after. (but i'd really rather not)

Thanks again guys,
~JOE

 

[1GRWD]

Well, I sent out 8 emails. Dan (the founder of) from MachV got back to me. He basically told me about his experiences, which included the facts that you don't really need to go to school for cars to end up in the business. So, in general, I must say that this gave me no more insight than what I had originally in mind.
So, here's my current solution: some satellite campuses of PSU offer some sort of alternative majors which have different routes to follow. I'll probably be going to Penn State Hazleton for 2 years, then switching to Harrisburg to finish up. The major of choice: Mechanical Engineering Technologies ... generally it's none of the crap and bookwork that doesn't let you get your hands dirty that plain old E Mech gives you up here. Basically, I'll be designing, making, testing, and breaking prototypes. All lab-type work for the most part...everything I ever wanted.. AND I'll be getting my degree.

Hope this type of insight may give any of you the hope you want. So, this is probably my course of action. Good luck to you all, and anyone who will be graduating and looking to start a group-based tuner-shop within the next 3 years, can look me up ;-)

~Joe

 

[tylerk]

Get a business degree. Seriously. What's going to kill you opening your own shop is not doing the actual work, but managing the business, especially if you attain any degree of success.

 

[Orso]

reading this post was great.. What you wanna go for is what i am currently going to Pennsylvania College of Technology.. My major is Automotive Service Sales and Marketing.. Check the site out at www.pct.edu

 

[Denji]

Hey man, thats my major and thats what i want to do, lets all get together and open one gangster dsm shop..haha. I am a mechanical engineering major at my local community college. I think the best way to do it is to get a job (internship) at a place that works with cars mechanically, that way you can at least have a basic understanding of engine internals and repair..etc. PM me sometime man, i think its sweet that other dsm guys are into the same stuff as me.