I used to work on my cars quite a bit. Not as a hobby, but as a necessity. Simple calculus, here. If you have little money and a broken car, your options are to fix it yourself or buy nice shoes because you'll be walking everywhere.
This has, historically, led to episodes like me breaking down and crying while laying flat on my back in the parking lot of some business where my car broke down because I just stripped out a bolt on my fuel pump.
Pretty much ever since I graduated from college the first time, I haven't had to do this much. Trust me, I don't miss it. I did enjoy working on my motorcycle. They're simpler machines and almost all the mechanical components are exposed and easy to get to. However, I've never wanted to, for instance, get a '67 Camaro and restore it in my garage. Not my idea of fun.
Well, one of the brakes on my SUV started making that telltale squealing sound that indicates that it is worn out and needs to be replaced. I ignored it for as long as I could. When my SUV started sounding exactly like a cement mixer everywhere I went, I tried to ignore it even further.
Yesterday, though, on a trip to the bank, the brake started catching with a klunking noise. When I stopped to see if I could see a problem, it was actually smoking.
Yeah, couldn't ignore this one any longer. So, I took it to the local strip-mall tire store where I usually get my tires.
They confirmed, yes, it was brakes. Yes, I needed them. Got an estimate and it was about $360. Figure with tax, I was looking at 4 bills. I told them I only wanted the one side done, but they insisted that they couldn't do that. They had to do both front brakes.
So, I told them I couldn't afford it. They hemmed and hawed and said they could do just the one side for $260. They said they needed to replace both sides of pads, but would leave one of the rotors the same. I was almost going to do it, but asked them to put it back together and I'd try to take care of it myself.
Went next door to the auto parts store, asked them how they rated the difficulty of the task, and the counter person said it was pretty much the easiest mechanical thing you can do on your car. Okay. What will I need? They assembled a bunch of parts and off I went. Total parts cost was maybe $75.
Got home, took the wheel off and one of the lug nuts' cover started slipping. In case this hasn't happened to you, it goes like this. A lot of OEM lug nuts aren't solid lug nuts. They're a lug nut with a shiny metal cover on the outside to make them look sorta upscale. Why they do this, I have no idea, since the hub cap cover covers the nuts. When the guys at the tire store hit my lug nuts with an impact wrench, they wrenched the cover loose on one of them.
I tried everything: other sockets that were slightly larger, etc. All that happened was that I succeeded in getting a socket stuck on the lug nut. Ended up just taking a chisel and chipping off the part exposed from the socket, and that freed the socket and the cover from the lug nut. The lug nut was then easily removed with a metric socket. I had to take a hammer and screwdriver and knock out the shiny cover from the socket. Okay, the wheel is finally off.
Keep in mind that changing brakes, for an experienced mechanic, is probably a job that should take 20 minutes per side. I was already about an hour into this and all I had was my truck jacked up and one tire off.
I got the calipers off. Removed the old rotor and brake pads. Couldn't get the calipers to compress. I didn't have a brake caliper tool. I needed a ride to the auto parts store, but couldn't get anybody on the phone. So I rode my bike. Not a bad ride, but even a little 8 mile jaunt is a test when you're as old and fat as I am.
Got the brake tool kit from the store. They actually have loaner tools there if you leave a deposit. Compressed the calipers, and tried like the dickens to get the new brake pads in there while still using the old no-rattle springs. Tried forever and it just wasn't going to happen. So, I just put the new pads in there without them. The truck is going back in a few months. It'll be fine.
Finally got the new rotor installed, new brake pads, reinstalled the caliper without incident. Put the wheel back on, tightened the lug nuts, and voila. My SUV no longer sounds like a cement mixer. Oh, and yeah, it actually brakes like it is supposed to. I guess I gotta throw that in there.
It was nice when I had money and could just pay people to do that sort of stuff for me. However, all in all, I probably saved $300. Even though it took 4 hours to do a job that should have taken half an hour, that's still a pretty decent hourly rate. If I actually had my garage set up for this sort of thing, it'd be a lot easier, too. I was doing it on the ground in my driveway.
Today, I'm stiff and sore from working with my back in odd positions. Still, there is something extremely satisfying about working on your own stuff. Like I said, motorcycles are really fun to work on.
These days cars are so much better than they used to be that they don't need to be fixed all that often. Some of the routine maintenance things like oil changes are so cheap that it doesn't pay to do them yourself. However, brakes are something that need to be done every so many miles, and you can really save a bundle doing them yourself.
My next car will probably be a Prius, though, and I doubt those have simple braking systems since they capture energy while braking. Who knows.
In the mean time, I no longer have to worry about embarassing my son while my SUV makes cement mixer sounds everywhere it goes.
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