OMS Autowerks: repair, custom exhaust and air suspension in Schenectady
Published · Automotive
OMS Autowerks is a two-bay shop at the corner of Broadway and Bellevue in Schenectady. Its tagline is "Fixed Right. Every Time." What makes it worth a closer look is range. The same two bays handle oil changes and seasonal tire swaps, and also the work a lot of shops send away: custom exhaust fabrication, air suspension, timing jobs and head gaskets, remote starts and car audio.
At a glance
- Who they are: OMS Autowerks, an independent repair and custom shop owned by Shiv Rambharose, who does the work himself.
- What they sell: General repair and maintenance for foreign and domestic cars, plus custom exhaust, air suspension, coilovers, remote start installs, car audio and aftermarket fabrication.
- Where: Broadway and Bellevue, Schenectady, NY.
- Who it's for: Everyday drivers, people building their cars, and owners with more than one vehicle. The shop's own line is "One car or the whole fleet."
- Website: OMS Autowerks' website
How Shiv runs the shop
The OMS Autowerks About page opens with Shiv, and says he built the shop to do one thing: fix cars the right way. It then gets specific about how he works:
- He explains what's wrong before he touches anything.
- He texts photos when the job is done.
- He doesn't sell you parts you don't need, which the page credits as the reason customers keep coming back.
The texted photos are a small habit that answers the question every customer has after a repair: what did you actually do? The brake service description follows the same pattern. OMS tells you what needs replacing now and what can wait, then does the work.
Everyday repair and maintenance
The About page describes OMS as covering "the full spectrum of automotive repair and aftermarket work," foreign and domestic. On the repair side, the services page lists:
- Oil changes. Conventional, synthetic blend or full synthetic, a new filter, and everything under the hood topped off, without the dealership wait.
- Brakes. Pads, rotors, calipers and lines, for squealing, pulling or a spongy pedal.
- Check engine light and diagnostics. Scan tools, a real look under the hood, and a plain-English explanation of the problem before you are charged to fix it.
- Tune-ups. Spark plugs, coils and filters for misfires, rough idle and lost power.
- Belts and hoses. Serpentine, timing and radiator, replaced when the wear shows and before a snapped belt strands you or damages the engine.
- A/C and heater service. A pressure test, finding the leak, and a recharge.
- Electrical and wiring. Batteries that keep dying, flickering lights and power windows that quit, traced to the short or bad ground.
- Transmission service. Automatics and manuals, with an honest call on whether it's a fluid-and-filter job or something bigger.
- Suspension, alignment and tires. Struts, shocks, sway bars and bushings; four-wheel alignment; and mounting, balancing, rotation and the seasonal swap between summer and snow tires.
The jobs other shops pass on
Three services stand out because OMS says outright that other shops avoid them:
- Air suspension. The site calls it "the kind of job most shops won't touch." OMS diagnoses and repairs sagging corners, failed compressors and leaking bags in the shop.
- Engine repair. Leaking valve covers, timing work and head gaskets. These are the jobs the site says other shops turf out.
- Exhaust. Anything from a broken hanger or a rusted pipe to a full custom system, including downpipes and mufflers. OMS welds, fabricates and installs exhaust in-house.
If you have been told to take a car with failing air suspension to the dealer, or a shop has passed on a timing job, these are the services to ask OMS about.
Custom and aftermarket work
The other half of the business is making cars do more than they did from the factory:
- Remote start installation, factory-integrated and installed clean, with range that works. The services page sells it with a 10-degree January morning, which any Schenectady driver will recognize.
- Coilovers and performance suspension. Height set, corner-balanced where needed, and aligned so the tires don't wear out in a week.
- Car audio. From a single sub under the seat to a full custom install, wired cleanly and tuned properly.
- Custom fabrication and aftermarket installs. Bring the parts and OMS will fit them: hoods, fenders, carbon fiber, LED setups and performance bolt-ons.
Having repair and aftermarket work in the same shop helps with this kind of job. Lowering a car is half suspension and half alignment, and an exhaust upgrade often starts by cutting out rusted pipe. OMS does both halves.
Who OMS Autowerks suits
- Drivers of foreign or domestic cars who want the owner to explain the problem before the work starts.
- Owners of cars with air suspension, which plenty of general shops won't take on.
- Enthusiasts planning exhaust, coilover, audio or body work.
- Small fleets that need one shop for routine service.
All 18 services have their own pages on OMS Autowerks' services list. Start there and pick the job that matches what your car is doing.