Jim Scott said:
I started doing my own work back in the mid-'60s when Chevy mechanics
couldn't do routine maintenance work on my Corvair Corsa without making it
run worse or become unsafe. In one case, they even sabotaged my car after a
warranty repair by only finger-tightening lug nuts!
You and I and anyone else who wants to can still bleed brakes at home with
simple tools. But I'm not going to spend thousands of dollars to buy a tool
to properly flush the ABS portion of my brakes.
It's not thousands of dollars. The OTC tool I mentioned earlier that is
specifically
for bleeding ABS retails at about $900 and used ones can be had for in the
$500
range (although those may not have all updates and thus may not be able to
do every
current model vehicle on the road)
And I'm not going to ignore
the ABS system. It's a lot cheaper and gives me peace of mind to rent
Chrysler mechanics and their high-faluting equipment to do it right.
But how do you really know that they are doing it right unless your standing
over
them?
I can still remember when I did my first brake job on my own car, years ago.
I had been doing my own minor work for a few years and finally decided to
attempt brakes. I read all I could about it and used the FSM of course -
and
in the process discovered 2 things - first that there are a number of
operations
in doing brake work that have quite obvious shortcuts - cuts that might seem
to
be OK but could compromise long term reliability. Such as reusing brake
shoe return springs. Second I discovered that to really do them right
requires
a fair bit of time, espically if you find hydraulic leaks that need
attention.
I therefore have come to the conclusion - fair or not - that probably 70% of
brake
jobs that are done are done too fast, skipping steps, and in short aren't
done
right. This is keeping in mind that every corner tire shop in the country
advertises
that they do brake jobs. I would hope that the vast majority of brake jobs
that
are done at real mechanic's shops by contrast are done properly - but to be
honest
after doing my own brake jobs now for years, I just cannot trust anyone else
to do them.
So, is it perhaps a bit of a stunner to discover you have to drop $500 on a
tool
to do your own ABS brake system right. But folks, that's the future of auto
repair. You may be able to argue that it's cheaper to hire a mechanic to do
the
job, but if that mechanic makes a mistake because he's rushing because his
boss
is pushing him because they booked in too many repair jobs that week, then
suddennly that $500 tool doesen't seem that expensive anymore.
I also change my own bearing races with nothing more than simple hand tools.
All you need is a brass punch, a heavy hammer and some blocks of wood. Once
the old race is out, I use it to help drive the new one into place. Just did
that last summer on Mitsu Mighty Max front hubs, in fact.
Experience is a great teacher, and I've learned how to do most car repair
jobs myself. I buy model year-specific factory shop manuals, read them and
learn what it takes to do a job right. There are many satisfactory
work-arounds. But there are some things that require equipment I don't have,
such as a spin balancer or alignment machine or brake disc/drum lathe or DRB
scan tool. That's when I let the pros do it.
I do concur on tires - I don't have the space in my garage for a tire
mounting
machine, or spin balancer even if someone gave them to me for free. But why
are you even bothing to turn brake drums or discs? For the money you save
on a brake job, just throw the used drums or discs out and buy new ones.
And
while a DRB tool is nice to have, even today with the computers in engines,
the vast majority of failures are still mechanical, and most DIYers can
easily get
by with one of those new $150 scan tools that plugs into the diagnostic port
and
you use a computer to download the info from it.
Where I see the real need for professional repair today is in auto bodywork.
Frame alignment is not something you can do in your garage.
But most people have neither the inclination, nor the talent, nor the desire
to learn how to do even simple auto maintenance. And they don't do anything
about it, even when they know they can save big bucks doing routine
maintenance and repairs. No wonder the average car owner's at the mercy of
the auto repair industry.
That is I think a really narrow view of things, it's a middle class
viewpoint I think.
Time was that only the rich bought cars and used them for 5-6 years then
sold
them at 6,000 miles. Everyone else, middle class and on down, when they
bought
a car they drove it until the wheels fell off. Thus a lot more people
were stuck trying to keep 15-20 year old vehicles running, thus they had
much
more interest in learning how and in doing simple auto maintainence.
Then the auto industry realized they could sell more cars if they convinced
the
middle class to give up owning a car older then 10 years old, and you ended
up
with the situation you have today, where the middle class are the new car
purchasers
and never really own a car, they are making car payments the rest of their
lives.
The lower middle class and the poor people who years ago used to take the
bus
are now able to afford the used vehicles that the middle class is
discarding, these
are the ones who cannot afford to pay people to work on their cars, and they
all seem to be working on their own cars. And the eco-greenies are running
around
wondering why nobody is riding the fancy bus systems they are getting the
city governments to build for them.
Ted
