Ugh.

[spacebug]

Lancer woke me up with their call about Clyde the Chev today. Seems they want almost $900 to fix the front brakes and rotors and some kind of hose, and even more than that to fix the rear cylinder, whatever that is, even though that can be held off. We were expecting something under $300. And that doesn't take into account the problems we're already ignoring, like the tires it needs and the various leaks and the worn out belts.

Clyde is not worth $1000, so unless we do something else (have it towed to another shop for a different estimate and hope it's manageable or have S4 repair what he can himself), we're without car. Which sucks, but wouldn't be half so bad as the fact that the "good" car on loan is also scheduled to be returned from whence it came in another week or two. Arrrgh.

Went from two cars to none pretty damn quick. At least I walk to work.

And now I'm feeling really guilty about agreeing to buy that keyboard, even though I couldn't really have forseen this.

Is anyone out there selling a cheap, reliable little hatchback?
I'd buy it from you in a heartbeat.

*sigh*

Ooh, wait.
Does this mean I don't have to pay my $200 insurance bill, now? That'd be neat. I can't remember if you pay forward or back on that.

Is it motorcycle season, yet?

Comments

[vaxjo.livejournal.com]

I can replace the front pads and rotors. I even know a yard in Blaine that will turn used rotors (or if these ones are grooved too badly, which I doubt, will sell you freshly turned used ones). I even have new jack stands that I haven't had a chance to use yet.

Your car's rear brakes are "drum" brakes (as opposed to "disc" brakes, like the front wheels' brakes). A brake pad pushes against the inside of the turning drum to stop the wheel. There is a little hydraulic device with a cylinder in it (colloquially know as "the cylinder") that pushes the two pads against the inside of the drum when pressure in the brake line is increased (that is, when you step on the brake pedal). Unfortunately, the inside of the drum is filled with myriad little metal pieces and springs which are, doubtlessly, all rusty and hard to get out. I would prefer not to work on drum brakes and especially not in the winter.

But since it's the front brakes that the most repair (as you know, the front brakes provide some 70% of the stopping power) I could do that without too much trouble. Doesn't that sound like fun?

(And the "hose" is probably one of the front brake hoses (which is a semi-flexible hose about 24" long that travels from the front brake caliper and joins the solid metal brake line on the other side of the suspension). I could probably replace that, too; but I would prefer to wait until spring since it involves draining the brake line.

[spacebug.livejournal.com]

Granted, I only talked about this with S4 when he was barely awake, but he also thought he might be able do a bulk of the repair himself (he replaced some of the rear brakes himself earlier last year.) You've dealt with Lancer before- are they always so expensive? I'm wondering if I'm leaving out some big part of what the repair entails or something for that much money. Between the two of you, I'm hopeful we could get it running well enough at least 'til I have the 'bike to get me around, or until we can afford *two* new-used cars (We were planning on buying one to replace Jim anyhow.) At any rate, I really appreciate the offer.

[vaxjo.livejournal.com]

Lancer is generally more expensive than other auto shops, but cheaper than dealerships. But then, they have better tools and mechanics than smaller auto shops. I could see $300 for the front brakes, maybe another $300 for the rear brakes and another $300 again for draining the brake line and replacing a hose. But the thing about brake line work is that it's not very complicated, just time consuming. And they charge the same per-hour rate no matter the complexity of the repair. You might do better bringing it to a "brake specialist" chain store (like AutoMax) where you might get cheaper rates and equivalent work.