I've never really thought of myself as mechanical. If the car starts making an odd sound or doesn't seem to be functioning exactly right I do what most people would do. Pop the hood. Get out and inspect. Think, "I have no idea even what to look for." And then get back in the car. Why do we do that?
Well, a few weeks ago my friend convinced me I was capable of actually fixing my own brakes. Brakes?!? Really, you want to mess with the system that takes you from screaming down the road to a stand still? Crazy thinking I know.
After a couple of consultative visits with my friend and his help demystifying the whole process I turned to the Internet. I started watching every video on brake jobs I could find. I finally got up the courage and bought the parts. Next thing I knew I had the car jacked up (and safely on stands) and had removed the wheels. Now what?
I realized the rotors were worn and that was where the real problem had come from in the first place. So, I got to dig a little deeper, remove the calipers and pull the rotors. I know, it's amazing that I have such in depth technical speak, isn't it?
So, after another trip to the parts store and a set of new rotors I was back on track. Within an hour or so I had everything put back together and to my surprise it's been running pretty well. I can't believe I actually changed the brakes.
Now, when the car makes an odd noise I won't just get out and look under the hood for some unknown noise producing phenomenon. Now I'll be able to pull off the wheels, inspect the pads and rotors and say, "Well, it's not the brakes."
