The story of how a driveway side-hustle in Mandarin became Jacksonville's dedicated brake shop.
David Shields spent eleven years as a lead technician for two national tire chains before he grew tired of watching customers pay for work their cars did not need. In the spring of 2011 he leased a two-bay garage at 2064 Brannon Avenue, wrote a one-page price list on brown paper, and opened the roll-up door.
The idea was simple: pick one job — the job we do best — and refuse to be anything else. Fourteen years later Stopper Brake Works has grown into a four-bay independent shop with two lifts, a Hunter Hawkeye alignment rack, and a small crew of ASE-certified technicians who live within four zip codes of the shop. We still write our published prices on brown kraft paper by the front counter. We still refuse oil changes.
A generalist shop performs eighty different services on a Tuesday. We perform four: brakes, suspension, steering, and alignment. Because we do the same jobs day after day, we finish them faster, catch mistakes other shops miss, and buy parts in enough volume that our published prices frequently beat the parts-only price at big-box counters.
Grew up rebuilding pickup trucks in Waycross, Georgia. Started turning wrenches professionally in 2000. Runs the front counter, the estimates, and the coffee pot.
Ten years at a Ford dealer service department. Handles fleet accounts and every diagnostic that involves an ABS module.
Runs the Hawkeye rack and every performance / lowered / lifted alignment that comes through the door.
Stopper Brake Works sponsors the Mandarin High School automotive program, donates rotors and pads to the annual Jacksonville Fire Rescue vehicle drive, and offers a standing 10% discount to active-duty service members and first responders. If you belong to a local club — Jax SCCA, NEFL Miata, First Coast Corvettes — call us; we probably already know your president.