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Applebees Appetizer posted:Yeah, if you can't work on cars yourself buying a used car with deferred maintenance could be a financial nightmare for some people especially if they buy the wrong car. Even more, more and more people don't understand maintenance schedules for their vehicles and its forcing more people into the mechanic for bigger issues. Pushing oil changes further out, never changing transmission fluid, never checking fluid levels, never changing fuel filters. Humans are terrible car stuff.
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Feb 17, 2023 15:37
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CommieGIR posted:Even more, more and more people don't understand maintenance schedules for their vehicles and its forcing more people into the mechanic for bigger issues. Pushing oil changes further out, never changing transmission fluid, never checking fluid levels, never changing fuel filters. I've been trying to help my nephew find a decent used car for $5k and it's not easy. It's amazing how many of the sellers have no clue about the maintenance history of their car and act like you're being a pain when you ask when the last time the transmission was serviced. Finally found him a mazda3 being sold by an older gentleman that's the second owner and believes in vehicle maintenance.
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Feb 17, 2023 15:44
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Powershift posted:There is between a 100 and 1000% mark-up on the parts. The $37 sway bar bushings are $8.72 for the pair from Honda. They almost definitely didn't come from Honda. They came from NAPA or whoever else delivers within the hour and the garage paid $20+ for them. I've noticed a much bigger deviation in prices for "we have it right now in stock and will deliver it" places than dealer parts in stock since you know when "because supply chain". You've got to watch out even more than usual these days. And a professional garage that is likely booked months out at this point doesn't have time for that and it make no sense for them to do. This is where they order from, this is what they got charged, plus their standard markup, take it or leave it. The most amazing things about this is that the found anyone to do this kind of work (rather than swapping a trans into it) and that is was this cheap. "Fixing parts" isn't in the realm of $85/hr "techs". It's real big boy mechanic stuff and there simply aren't all that many of that kind of person out there compared to people who sling brakes and oil changes.
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Feb 17, 2023 16:24
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I look forward to getting the clutch replaced on my Corolla. As well as pilot bushing, rear main seal etc. Procedure is to drop engine and trans out from the bottom of the car!!!
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Feb 17, 2023 16:42
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Never underestimate the "have it in an hour" markup. I just ordered a wheel bearing for my car. $90 + ship from Rockauto, and here in 2-3 days. Or Napa has it for $170 today, but since I'm a walk in and not an account it'll be here with the next warehouse delivery in the afternoon, or I can drive an hour round trip and get it right from the warehouse store. With a shop, when time is money and a lift is tied up? Yeah they'll pay whatever the price is from whoever they can get it from ASAP and just put it on your bill, with their markup for their time spent ordering it. Hell, front rotors/pads and all the rubber bits on the caliper for my wife's car was $140 + ship. Just the rotor was $90 each from Oreilly/Napa, and again they'd have to order it from the area warehouse to the closest store. I'm not gonna have time to do them until next week anyway.
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Feb 17, 2023 19:10
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wesleywillis posted:I look forward to getting the clutch replaced on my Corolla. As well as pilot bushing, rear main seal etc. Will probably still be way cheaper than having an auto trans rebuilt or replaced tho so you have that going for you.
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Feb 17, 2023 19:30
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everdave posted:Going to the mechanics I trust if I can even find them has become impossible. They have too much work to tackle big jobs I don’t want to or can’t do. The last mechanic I found that I trust..... I've known since 1998. He used to work for his FIL, spun off and opened his own shop in 2010 or so. I ran into him purely by chance when I needed work done on my Altima (living in a completely different town a good bit out of Dallas). Sent my mom to him (despite him being a nearly hour drive each way) anytime her Avalon needed anything for several years. He works almost exclusively on Honda/Toyota products, though when he first opened his shop he'd take most stuff (he was a 1 man shop back then... not so much now). So I'm looking at a 4 hour drive if the Lexus needs anything major and can still move under its own power, but I can at least stay with friends/family. He's managed to maintain a 5 star rating on Yelp, 4.9 stars on Google, for over 10 years. I will absolutely make the drive for something I can't do myself. CommieGIR posted:Yeah there's only one mechanic I trust and they are 15 miles away, and its hit or miss if I can get in for work. Mine's 220 miles away.  I wish I could clone him.Maybe not his political affiliations though.
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Feb 18, 2023 08:43
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I grew up with zero mechanical knowledge from my parents, but cut my teeth helping my mates dad build whatever crazy XY GT Falcon he had in the garage. I learnt to weld after telling him ' would it be neat if we had a rack for all the wheels?' and he replied 'lets make it right now and I'll show you how' My real dad drove a FJ ONCE from Bowen to Melbourne with no licence and no care for anything. I do all my work myself, out of a personal pride on learning how to do something new. Now i get someone to do my brakes though as it's $100 and I'm not loving around for an hour and getting hot and dirty.
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Feb 18, 2023 15:34
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Most shops see brakes as an easy $500. Damned if I'm paying that much when I can do pads and rotors for $75 an axle. Especially when most shops are going to come back with a 4-5 figure list of "things that need IMMEDIATE!!111!!1!" attention. It's a 15 year old car. Of course it's going to dribble and fart a little. I'm not even going back to the dealer for my free oil change, the whole experience with buying the car left me pretty salty. And I hate doing oil changes.
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Feb 19, 2023 00:25
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Paying yourself $0 an hour makes everything seem cheaper.
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Feb 19, 2023 00:34
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Even paying myself the going shop retail rate @ 100/hr (which I know the tech doesn't even see half of) still seems cheaper. I can do pads and rotors in an hour on the front as long as I have everything ahead of time. I have an impact if anything puts up a fight, caliper compressor (not just a c-clamp!), torque wrench, and the PO was nice enough to include the locking wheel lug key (already verified to be the correct one). But the pads only have about 15k on them, and look only lightly worn, so I should have a good bit of time before I have to do them. Rear, uh... well it's been a long time since I did a drum in hat setup (I assume that's what I have, Toyota was fond of it).. There's a decent chance I have the original rotors on the back (my mom's Avalon still did at ~250k, I'm at 182k), the ones on Mom's Avalon were seized to the hubs pretty solid the one time I tried to take them off. randomidiot fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Feb 19, 2023 |
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Feb 19, 2023 00:58
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Humphreys posted:I do all my work myself, out of a personal pride on learning how to do something new. Now i get someone to do my brakes though as it's $100 and I'm not loving around for an hour and getting hot and dirty. Knowing I have done it and can do it is enough for me these days, especially when there's always a deal to be had for basic service via GrabOne or whatever. I hit a decent drive-thru oil place for about NZ$110 for 6.5l oil and filter and fluids check, slapping pads is about NZ$70 per end. Simply not worth my time and hassle.
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Feb 19, 2023 01:46
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Yeah sorry I'm poor and don't make $1000 per day net which is what a shop would bill for the time
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Feb 19, 2023 01:52
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Driving to a shop, waiting for them to get to me, waiting for them to do the work, waiting for them to give me my car back, and driving back home takes longer than just doing it myself for simple poo poo like oil and brakes. My time is going to be consumed either way so I might as well just do it myself and save the actual dollars I can use to buy poo poo with.
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Feb 19, 2023 05:42
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I do all my own maintenance cuz I'll just take the car into work in a Saturday and put it up on the ramp! That's where all my tools are anyway haha
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Feb 19, 2023 12:40
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I like doing my own maintenance and it keeps me a bit refreshed on mechanical work which I did growing up in my dads shop. Up to a point it’s fun and cost effective but I do have a pretty clear point where I nope out and give it to the local shop. We haaaaated having to fix someone else’s botched repair attempts and I never want to be that guy.
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Feb 19, 2023 13:27
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Galler posted:takes longer than just doing it myself for simple poo poo like oil and brakes. I had to take my MKV GTI to the shop to do the rear brakes. I had to use like an 18" extension on a breaker bar to reach the bolts around everything in the way to take the calipers off. The only spot to fit the breaker bar was straight down, so the car needed to be lifted several feet to get good enough access to put some force on it. It just wasn't something I could do with a floor jack and some stands. The front brakes took like ten minutes each to swap.
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Feb 19, 2023 14:23
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I've always found brake jobs fit into two categories: 1) Knock a corner out in under 20 minutes. or 2) Excruciating pain.
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Feb 19, 2023 14:48
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C-Bangin' it 
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I got spoiled for brakes because the car I started doing them on had discs all around. Then I had to do my first drum brake and met the frustration of getting the loving spring on while keeping the adjustor together and the cylinders unfucked
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Feb 19, 2023 15:17
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fridge corn posted:I do all my own maintenance cuz I'll just take the car into work in a Saturday and put it up on the ramp! That's where all my tools are anyway haha I'm lucky enough to have a DIY shop about half an hour away. Rent a lift by the hour, tools included, and if you get stuck, they'll give you a hand (for extra money). Colostomy Bag posted:I've always found brake jobs fit into two categories: This. The two times I've hosed with drum in hat, it was the latter, and suddenly everything looked good from here. In both cases I was trying to swap rotors, but no, they were fine once I realized they weren't coming out without a massive fight.
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Feb 19, 2023 15:18
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STR posted:I'm lucky enough to have a DIY shop about half an hour away. Rent a lift by the hour, tools included, and if you get stuck, they'll give you a hand (for extra money). How would someone find if they had one of these semi-locally?!? Sounds amazing
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Feb 19, 2023 15:25
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Colostomy Bag posted:
It sounds like you were watching that time I needed to use an m18 fuel impact wrench on max power to take off a 14mm bolt (2018 car, no rust) because someone had coated almost two inches of it in locktite and overtorqued it….
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Feb 19, 2023 15:31
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I live in Florida, no rust, so doing anything like brakes or suspension work is relatively easy so I'd rather do it myself than pay someone to gently caress up a simple job. Also do my own oil changes because people gently caress those up too, ever since I had some chucklefuck cross thread the drain plug I said gently caress that never again.
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Feb 19, 2023 16:25
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Shops hate torque specs and ignore them all the time. I replaced most of my front suspension and made sure to torque everything properly but when I got an alignment done later the tech obviously just used a impact gun to do everything
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Feb 19, 2023 16:31
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More than once I've gone to get an alignment and they hosed it up in one way or another. Once they didn't re tighten the lower strut mounts, I could take the nuts off with my hand, and I only figured that out after I decided to go back to a stock alignment rather than a custom alignment with cam bolts.
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Feb 19, 2023 16:37
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I used to have trouble taking wheels off because the lugnuts were always overtorqued to the point of having to jump on the wrench to loosen them. Once I started torquing them myself to specs, shockingly they're always easy to take off and never come loose by themselves. Interesting. Well yeah, if you have a breaker bar or a pipe just laying around... vvv mobby_6kl fucked around with this message at 17:34 on Feb 19, 2023 |
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Feb 19, 2023 17:05
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mobby_6kl posted:I used to have trouble taking wheels off because the lugnuts were always overtorqued to the point of having to jump on the wrench to loosen them. Once I started torquing them myself to specs, shockingly they're always easy to take off and never come loose by themselves. Interesting. Archimedes posted:Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world
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Feb 19, 2023 17:18
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Colostomy Bag posted:I've always found brake jobs fit into two categories: I'm changing the internal axle seals on my Daihatsu Rocky and I think I know which of these categories it will be. I also never really set up the rear diff when swapping in the limited slip, so that'll be fun if its totally shithouse.
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Feb 19, 2023 17:47
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Colostomy Bag posted:I've always found brake jobs fit into two categories: I always find 3 corners are fine but it's always the last one that something fucky occurs.
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Feb 20, 2023 02:57
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mobby_6kl posted:Well yeah, if you have a breaker bar or a pipe just laying around... I thought that's why floor jacks have removable handles.
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Feb 20, 2023 06:57
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ryanrs posted:I thought that's why floor jacks have removable handles.
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Feb 20, 2023 12:06
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amenenema posted:How would someone find if they had one of these semi-locally?!? Sounds amazing Check Google for "DIY automotive <city name>". If I search for "DIY automotive Austin", this pops up. Their full service rates are pretty drat high, but they waive the bay fee while helping. Their full service is meant more as a "oh poo poo, I hosed up, I need help" rescue (and I've used it twice - once when I was fighting with drum brakes, once when I COULD NOT get an axle stub out of a hub), not a "hey I'm dropping my car off" type of service. If you have a multi-day job, you can rent a bay for multiple days. Applebees Appetizer posted:Also do my own oil changes because people gently caress those up too, ever since I had some chucklefuck cross thread the drain plug I said gently caress that never again. One of the services listed on my car's history is "replaced oil pan - threads stripped". That doesn't look like a fun job on this car. Or any FWD car with a V6/V8.
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Feb 20, 2023 12:30
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Feb 20, 2023 13:17
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I mean that’s an impressively cut radius on the slope down to the ball so it’s not like they completely botched it.
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Feb 20, 2023 13:29
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funeral home DJ posted:I mean that’s an impressively cut radius on the slope down to the ball so it’s not like they completely botched it. Well if you are good at wood working but hopeless with welding, it's obvious what solution you would choose.
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Feb 20, 2023 13:35
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Humphreys posted:I always find 3 corners are fine but it's always the last one that something fucky occurs. Not just brakes, anything that requires 4 tasks. I replaced my puddle lights with some branded script ones. Now directions state you're supposed to remove the door card, but everything I read online said you can just pop them out and replace them. And they were right! Well, for 3/4 of them the were super easy to install, as there was enough extra slack in the wiring to allow me to do it. However that 4th one, there was not 1 micrometer of slack available to do it that way, the Italian who put that door together must have gotten an espresso bonus for not wasting wiring. I have yet to pop that door card out and replace that one puddle light, fortunately it's one of the rear doors. ryanrs posted:I thought that's why floor jacks have removable handles. It's what I use mine for
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Feb 20, 2023 14:05
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ryanrs posted:I thought that's why floor jacks have removable handles.
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Feb 20, 2023 15:13
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Or if you're changing a flat at the side of the road and the floor jack is at home. When I got the clutch done on my old Mazda, they tightened the lug nuts so tight I put a four foot drill rod on my tire iron, stood on it and bent the tire iron. I'm over 200 pounds so thats 800+ ft lbs of torque on that poo poo.
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Feb 20, 2023 15:44
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Fifty Three posted:Except when you leave the jack in place as a secondary safety under the car and remove the handle and the socket immediately returns to vertical and goddammit I got physically uncomfortable, just reading this
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Feb 20, 2023 15:54
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Just-In-Timeberlake posted:Not just brakes, anything that requires 4 tasks. My Cavalier, the rear brake lights, you just reached in a cut out hole, turn the light 90 degrees, and remove it. The hole is offset to give room for the electrical wires once it's turned. Worked perfect on the driver's side. On the passenger side, it was obvious that the designer just mirrored the hole location in CAD, which would have been perfect if the light socket was also mirrored. Since it was obviously the same part, turning it 90 degrees didn't put the wires in line with the hole but directly under the sheet metal. I had to remove the entire light assembly to get at the bulb. I guess also terrible was having a Cavalier, but it was fun not to care about it and beat it up.
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Feb 20, 2023 16:24
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