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OfflineMilkdudTitties
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Do you do all the work on your car?
    #21828935 - 06/19/15 04:57 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

I just finished changing out the fuel filter on my car. The parts cost around 30$ but i know that if i had taken it to a shop for the same job it would have easily been triple that amount.

I always do all the maintenance and repairs on my car. Its just the way my dad taught me as i was growing up. Always do things yourself when you can, so you know that its done the right way.

Everytime i have taken my car to a shop to have work done, they never do it quite satisfactory. They don't really care, its not their car anyways.

I once took an older car i had to the shop to have the radiator changed out. They called me and said it was ready. When i get to the shop i inspect what they did. I look under the hood and pop open the radiator cap. Its fucking bone dry. They said my car was ready to be driven off, and it didn't even have fluid.

:thisisterrible:

After that happened, i decided it was better to just do all the work myself. Its a lot cheaper and the i know the work is done the correct way when i do it.

So how many of you guys throw money at the repair man when something breaks, and how many of you do it yourself when its possible?


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Invisiblewildernessjunkie
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: MilkdudTitties]
    #21829008 - 06/19/15 05:11 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

There's another side to this story too though.

I used to wrench at a dealership. And I have multiple stories like the one below.

A guy comes in with a coolant leak. I perform the diagnosis and find a leaking intake manifold gasket. I do the repair and send it out the door. The next day the giy comes back furious. He had "Double Checked" my work and found out that ALL of the bolts on the intake weren't even tight! He had to go through and give each one at least a full turn to tighten them up. And on top of that, now it was leaking again.

We then had to explain the concept of torque sequence and the concept of torque angle measurments on that model of vehicle. His warranty on the work was then void. Which made him even more angry.

In the end. He had screwed up the job while trying to  make sure the job was done right. He didn't know he was ruining the work performed.

I guess it all depends on what kind if repair needs to be done.


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OfflineShroomslip
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: MilkdudTitties]
    #21829012 - 06/19/15 05:11 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

Sometimes there are things that are just out of my league. If I have the ability to do the work myself, I will. Sometimes though you need equipment that I just don't have and not gonna spend several hundred dollars (or more) on some piece of equipment I'll use maybe once or twice and will just take up space being unused for 99.9% of it's life. The auto parts stores around here don't loan out or rent tools (I've asked).

I hate doing it though. In theory I love it, becuase I've always liked taking things apart and putting them back together, been doing it since I was old enough to use a screw driver.. But working on a car is just a pain in the ass most of the time. Especially on new cars where everything is just crammed in there. Last time I had to take the alternator out of my car it took me 45 minutes. On my grandpa's old truck or something it would've taken me about 5.


--------------------
With my face against the floor I can’t see who knocked me out of the way.
I don’t want to get back up but I have to so it might as well be today.
Nothing appeals to me no one feels like me, I’m too busy being calm to disappear.
I’m in no shape to be alone contrary to the shit that you might hear.


You can't wake up, this is not a dream. You're part of a machine, you are not a human being
With your face all made up, living on a screen. Low on self esteem, so you run on gasoline


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OfflineSpiritualWarrior
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: Shroomslip]
    #21829037 - 06/19/15 05:20 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

I don't like mechanics either they charge soooo much and sometimes don't even do it right or fix the issue you're having. I started out small working on my car and now I do things as large as pulling the engine out and putting it back in. I literally saved this car I had it had 2 burnt exhaust valves causing it to run like shit. Took the the engine out, took it apart, seen the damage. Decided to just do a engine overhaul/rebuild. New pistons, rings, took the head to the machinist and the block to get worked on. Put everything back together, new gaskets, pistons, rings. Engine ran fine for the first 25,000 miles... Only thing was it was leaking or burning oil. Took that engine apart again, found that the pistons weren't quite installed correctly... Bought a used low miles JDM engine block, swapped the cylinder head I had before on there, now it runs excellent and doesn't burn or leak a drop of oil. I also put a DOHC cylinder head on it instead of a SOHC...


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OfflineBlazeGlassDabs
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: SpiritualWarrior]
    #21829191 - 06/19/15 06:08 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

i went to a tech school to work on cars and trucks and just about anything else with a motor that wasnt a plane and i do all my own maintence on everything but i cant fix everything sometimes and i have to take it to a shop but it is an amazing trait to have
i dont let anyone touch my Harley
unless the change the tires and they just get the rims at that point


--------------------
Cherish yesterday, Dream tomorrow, Live today

So if you now number yourself among the disenchanted, then you have no choice but to accept things as they are, or to seriously seek something else. But beware of looking for goals: look for a way of life. Decide how you want to live and then see what you can do to make a living WITHIN that way of life.
- Hunter S. Thompson


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InvisibleShroomismM
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: MilkdudTitties]
    #21829408 - 06/19/15 06:44 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

I do all the possible work and DIY stuff I can do on my car by myself.

For example on my current car I've done:
- Changed to aftermarket air intake (super easy..)
- Took out my stock springs/struts and installed coilovers (needed to rent a lift)
- Replaced my rear sway bar and endlinks with aftermarket ones
- Replaced my downpipe
- Change spark plugs/coilpacks
- Do my own oil changes
- Check/Clear engine codes (bought a $300 canbus cable that hooks to my laptop so I can do diagnostics / ECU tweaks / clear codes by myself)
- Installed a P3 boost vent gauge
- Installed aftermarket head unit
- Installed dash cam, hid wiring under interior and hard wired to fuse box with a battery backup so it doesn't drain my car battery when the car is off.
- Probably a bunch of other things I'm forgetting

The work I do do.... I make sure to research everything 1000% beforehand, make sure I have all the proper tools and torque everything to OEM specs etc.

However, there are some things I simply cannot do myself (lack of tools/equipment) or lack of knowledge/expertise.
I have a new (2013.5) Euro car, which to do some things requires super high end equipment, a dedicated german mechanic who has the knowledge and expertise, etc. There's some things I simply cannot do on my own. Like I wouldn't trust myself to install an aftermarket turbo and do everything right.
Also my car has something like 15 computers in it and multitudes of sensors.
If something goes wrong, I have the ability to diagnose it myself... but I wouldn't know where to begin on fixing half that stuff.

And oil changes. I take it to my VW/Audi guy for that. I used to do my own oil changes... but it's a pain in the ass and I only save like 20 bucks.
Costs me $50 to get the oil and replacement filter. I do it myself.. takes me a good hour, get dirty and then have to deal with properly disposing 5.5 liters of used oil.
Or I can pay $25 more.. take it to my guy and have it done in a half an hour while I drink a soda in the A/C. For the convenience factor, I'll pay the extra.

If it's something I CAN do, (like upgrading to coilovers)... and I'll save a ton of money by doing it myself... then I will do it. Save $400 on labor charges? Fuck yes.

But if it's something that's out of my league... I'll have a professional do it. I have two shops that I trust 100% with my car, they are both dedicated performance VW/Audi shops and ONLY do work on VWs and Audis. I trust them with my car because they are enthusiasts themselves and they treat my car like it's their own.

And another example... alignment.. I can't do that myself.


Older cars you can get away with doing virtually all the maintenance yourself. Provided you have the tools.
New cars... good luck. You can do a lot of it yourself... but some things just require a specialist and/or special and expensive equipment. They are a hundred times more complex than older cars.


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Offliner00tuuu123
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: Shroomslip]
    #21829472 - 06/19/15 06:56 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

Quote:

Shroomslip said:
Sometimes there are things that are just out of my league. If I have the ability to do the work myself, I will. Sometimes though you need equipment that I just don't have and not gonna spend several hundred dollars (or more) on some piece of equipment I'll use maybe once or twice and will just take up space being unused for 99.9% of it's life. The auto parts stores around here don't loan out or rent tools (I've asked).

I hate doing it though. In theory I love it, becuase I've always liked taking things apart and putting them back together, been doing it since I was old enough to use a screw driver.. But working on a car is just a pain in the ass most of the time. Especially on new cars where everything is just crammed in there. Last time I had to take the alternator out of my car it took me 45 minutes. On my grandpa's old truck or something it would've taken me about 5.



:whathesaid: About the only things I touch myself anymore is brakes and rotors and this is coming from a guy that can and has torn down numerous pieces of heavy equipment in the field. Changing the sparkplugs anymore is so fucking time consuming that it's worth droping the car at the shop and saying call me when it's done.


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:kingcrankey: Please report me to a Mod for hurting your punk ass hippie feelings :flipthebird: And all time Champion thread killer.:thatsayes:


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Invisiblekr0nik0
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: Shroomism]
    #21829517 - 06/19/15 07:08 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

Yes. The only thing I pay someone to do on a vehicle is body work.

My first experiences working on cars was helping my friend and his dad completely rebuild an 89 Camaro when I was 14.
It became something I fell in love with during high school.

I ended up graduating from a tech college roughly 8 years ago where I studied "automotive technology."
Absolutely loved it there, especially the hands on shop days.

I got really into modifying and tuning cars during that time but kind of lost my passion over the years due to working in the auto industry (retail) from the time I graduated until January of this year when I was able to find the job of my dreams, although it pays absolute shit until I work my way up.

Nowadays I use what I learned in school to maintain my car which is great from a financial standpoint but I'm looking forward to buying a new (used) car soon that's fun to work on as well as drive.

My 2002 Mazda 626 sedan just isn't cutting it in the fun sector.
I'm looking to buy one of the following:

-Mk2 or Mk3 VW GTI
-M30 or M36 BMW M3
-Honda S2000
-3rd Gen "FD" Mazda RX-7

These are all cheap cars, just incredibly hard to find ones that aren't falling apart.


--------------------

“[...]the only people for me are the mad ones,
the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk,
mad to be saved,
desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”



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InvisibleShroomismM
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: kr0nik0]
    #21829613 - 06/19/15 07:32 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

Yeah... body work is a whole different story/field.
I do my own washing / detailing too. I don't trust most places to wash my car.. the places I do trust are too expensive to justify letting them do it every week or two.
I have a DA polisher and all the products so I do all my detailing by myself.. it's a pain in the ASS though.
Takes me like almost 8 full hours to do a full detail on my car.. which is vaccum/clean interior... wash, clay bar, wash again, polish and wax.
I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my paint. I do everything the proper way, with the two bucket method.. having separate washmitts for the paint and the wheels, etc. Wheel washmitt ONLY touches the wheels and NEVER touches the paint and vica versa.
But every once in a while, I can't be fucked to spend all day detailing so if I have the cash I will take it to one of my places and have them do it. They do an even better job than me, and faster... but it costs me a good 150-200 to have a high quality place do it that I trust. So it's just a matter of if that money is worth my time... which.. usually it's not so I just do it myself.

But then once I got a big gash in my rear bumper.. I tried buffing/polishing it out with compound but it wasn't buffing out.
Ended up finding some guy on craigslist who said he was a professional.. paid him $150 and he sanded it down and repainted. 
I was trying to save some money, but fuck.. I should have just taken it to a real professional shop, it looked a ton better.. but wasn't a perfect job by any means... in the light you can see how it's uneven where he was sanding it. It's not a glaring issue but I can definitely notice it when looking at it and it bothers me.
Lesson learned.. I should have just spent the extra $150 and taken it to a professional body shop and had them do it.. then it would have looked perfect... instead of "close enough". Had a shop quote me 300 and "would make it look like it was brand new/never there".
I'm just going to end up replacing the rear bumper with a brand new one eventually. It bothers me that much, even though it's not even really noticeable unless you are up close.

But yeah I won't trust myself with the majority of body work, especially when it comes to anything to do with paint/clearcoat.
Remove swirls and scratches with polisher, and keep the paint in prime condition... that's about as far as I go personally.



As for car... go with the MK3 GTI! Or the M36!
But like you said.. can be hard to find in good condition.. just keep looking you'll find something.


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Invisibleazur
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: Shroomism]
    #21829690 - 06/19/15 07:43 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

I've done everything myself from the simplest tasks to rebuilding engines. I recently met an honest mechanic (hard to believe i know) who charges a fair price. I haven't had to use him yet, but i think i will. At this point, my time is more valuable than my money


--------------------


A cube is NOT a cube.

FALL IN LOVE WITH LC
FOTTSE!!!
ALL NOOBS READ THIS!!!



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InvisibleballsalsaMDiscord
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: azur]
    #21829729 - 06/19/15 07:51 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

i do anything that doesn't require me to hoist the engine out. (mostly because i'm poor though)

simple body work isn't that hard as long as you already have the painting tools and you can build yourself a temporary spray booth (the paint is the hard part)


--------------------


Like cannabis topics? Read my cannabis blog here


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Offliner00tuuu123
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: azur]
    #21829759 - 06/19/15 07:56 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

Quote:

azur said:
I've done everything myself from the simplest tasks to rebuilding engines. I recently met an honest mechanic (hard to believe i know) who charges a fair price. I haven't had to use him yet, but i think i will. At this point, my time is more valuable than my money



A good mechanic is worth their weight in gold. I refer all my friends to my guys. :thatsayes:  they know they can't bullshit me for one and for 2 they treat my friends right. None of this trying to squeeze 1000.00 out of a 200.00 repair.


--------------------
:kingcrankey: Please report me to a Mod for hurting your punk ass hippie feelings :flipthebird: And all time Champion thread killer.:thatsayes:


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InvisibleShroomismM
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: azur]
    #21829770 - 06/19/15 07:59 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

Quote:

azur said:
I've done everything myself from the simplest tasks to rebuilding engines. I recently met an honest mechanic (hard to believe i know) who charges a fair price. I haven't had to use him yet, but i think i will. At this point, my time is more valuable than my money




I feel like the dishonest mechanic thing is so overblown.. I dunno maybe it's just me and the places I go.. but most of the mechanics I know are very honest and straightforward... or maybe it's just because I know a thing or five about cars and they can't take advantage of me.

I dunno.. I feel like if you take your car to Jiffy Lube, or some no name service center, then you should expect to have a dumbass working on your car and/or fuck something up and/or rip you off and lie to you.

But all the places I go are specialists.. they only deal with a couple makes of cars, so they are exclusive and experts at their fields. I'll pay a little bit more for quality work because I know the guys will do a top notch job.. they are very well respected shops in the area and highly recommended by others.

I think it's like most things.. you get what you pay for (most of the time), and it's all in who you know. Yeah there's a lot of shady ass mechanics out there... and they are ~usually~ holed up in some shitty shop. I don't take my car anywhere I don't completely trust. And now that we have things like Yelp... it's even easier to prescreen then ever before.

Maybe it's different in smaller towns. But here I have 100s of shops to choose from, I got a handful that I trust. The other places don't even get a glance.


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Invisiblerackem
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: Shroomism]
    #21829796 - 06/19/15 08:05 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

i had to take my jeep in for a new tcase last week cause the doctor said if i did it i would be risking surgery (fucking cunt doctor) that is the first time anybody has worked on one of my vehicles in a very very very long time..


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OfflineDetached
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: Shroomism]
    #21829802 - 06/19/15 08:06 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

I don't know shit about cars or any sort of mechanical repair. Never really had an opportunity to learn or a father who cared enough to show me.

It's a skill I really wish I had.


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Invisiblerackem
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: Detached]
    #21829809 - 06/19/15 08:08 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

you can pick it up man.... just a willingness to learn/make mistakes and a friend that can get you out of jams all it takes.


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OfflineDetached
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: rackem]
    #21829828 - 06/19/15 08:12 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

I'm sure it's not as difficult as it initially appears. I avoid any sort of repair since I can't afford it and then I'm shit outta luck when something finally breaks.

How hard are newer models to work on? Is there much of a difference in repair between a manual or automatic?


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Offliner00tuuu123
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: Detached]
    #21829830 - 06/19/15 08:12 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

Start by doing simple shit like changing your oil and your air filter If you can turn a wrench and use Google you can do most of the basics .


--------------------
:kingcrankey: Please report me to a Mod for hurting your punk ass hippie feelings :flipthebird: And all time Champion thread killer.:thatsayes:


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Invisiblekr0nik0
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: Shroomism]
    #21829864 - 06/19/15 08:19 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

Quote:

Shroomism said:
As for car... go with the MK3 GTI! Or the M36!
But like you said.. can be hard to find in good condition.. just keep looking you'll find something.




For sure. Those are my top 2 choices.
I missed out on a garage stored M36 with 67k miles a couple years ago that I'm still kicking myself in the ass for not buying.

The guy was only asking $5300 for it but by the time I got the money together (2 weeks) it was gone. The car was just pristine. Looked like it belonged in a showroom.

As far as what you mentioned about detailing, yea it takes a good 8+ hours for me to fully detail a car properly.
When I was still working in the auto industry I had a guy that would do a hell of a job detailing for only $80, but now that I can't send him a lot of business anymore the price shot back up to what he charges regularly ($150).


--------------------

“[...]the only people for me are the mad ones,
the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk,
mad to be saved,
desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”



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Offlineenjoi-more
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Re: Do you do all the work on your car? [Re: Detached]
    #21829882 - 06/19/15 08:23 PM (8 years, 7 months ago)

Tomorrow in fact ill be replacing the front down pipe with mah dad. Also had to replace the radiator, headlight, and hood last year due to an accident (Someone in front of you slams on there breaks quite unnecessary hard :thumbdown:) Would totally be cool to know as much as some of you guys about cars


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