Demonic Dashboard

So a little while after putting up that first post I was headed out and my car disagreed with that plan...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eDFOZ08Fkc&feature=youtu.be

Getting Started

So, this is a blog that I was going to start awhile back. I got distracted, wandered off and completely forgot about it until I found out I'm going to need to replace my brake pads and rotor in my car. My boyfriend thought of this blog and was all “hey...weren't you going to do a blog about car maintenance and repair a long time ago...?”

Well I've decided that it was a really good idea in the beginning and I'm tired of not knowing anything about my car. I felt like an idiot at the shop because they literally could have told me anything and all I would have the knowledge to do is nod along and let them fix whatever they say needs to be fixed.

Now, I do have a mechanic that I trust not to mislead me but sometimes it's just too expensive. To get my brake pads and rotor replaced it was about a $400 estimate no matter where I called. If you're going in to a mechanic, do make sure to call around and get estimates from different garages, sometimes someone is running a special or just won't charge quite as much.

I have been pricing parts over the last few days as well as scouring the internet for instructional videos and while this is going to be something completely out of my realm of expertise I believe I can do it. You're not interacting directly with the brake line/fluid, it can be done without a car lift and looks fairly straight forward. These are my front brakes by the way, rear brakes do look a bit more tricky.

While I'm fixing the brakes I'll probably go ahead and rotate my tires since you have to take the tires off in order to inspect the brakes. Rotating the tires increases the life of your tires, which is great for me because tires are stupidly expensive (In the Raleigh area, Murray's tires is an amazing place to go, best value that I've found so far and really quick to get in and out of). This is another thing I realized I had no knowledge of what so ever, and is something you should keep an eye on. I've never kept up with getting my tires rotated and I've had to replace one full set as well as two single blowouts in the last couple years, which really does add up, any extra time between replacements is worth the effort.

The next post I have will detail my research so far as brands and materials for brake pads and rotors, as well as a video, which I hope turns out well I've never made an instructional video before, only game play throughs. So, I'll be back soon!