Get a autotragic car from a relative after my high school grad

>get a autotragic car from a relative after my high school grad
>really low miles, well cared-for, never needs any work aside from oil changes and other preventative maintenance shit
>drive it around for years, never bother to learn anything about it and just take it into the shop every now and then.
>eventually figure I should learn more about cars, start caring about the thing properly
>lurk Veeky Forums
>holy shit, cars are rad
>later, brakes need replacing
>fuck it, I'm going to do them myself
>buy a load of tools, look up guides, do more lurking and research
>pick up new rotors and pads
>everything combined still comes out to about $100 less than getting it done at the shop
>change my brakes, everything goes smoothly, brakes feel beautiful and car runs fine
>step away with decent sense of accomplishment and a bunch of tools I can use in the future

Why don't more people do this? It's a hell of a lot of fun too, on top of all the money you're saving.

Some before and after shots of the brakes. They probably would have been fine for a while, but I figured I should deal with them sooner rather than later.

Thanks for helping me get into the hobby, Veeky Forums.

>try to change intake gasket
>get top end apart without really understanding what i'm doing
>get completely lost and start freaking out
>it starts raining

Because people are helpless

There are three options;
>they don't want to
They find doing manual labor too complicated, too hard or too time consuming, and would much rather pay someone
>they think its too hard
They think themselves unable to perform the task at hand, or the task to be extremely complicated
>they are completely unable
They're fucking clueless and should not be allowed any tool bigger than a 5" Philips 2 screwdriver

People just don't do stuff on their own, and its only gotten worse over the years. My sister and her boyfriend are a very fine example. I went over there today for my nephews first birthday, and as usual there is plenty of stuff in their apartment or on their car that needs fixing/adjusting

>TV has a super strong green filter for the past week
Restart, update and clean the card of the receiver
>the toy kitchen they assembled stands uneven and needs to be attached to the wall
Four screws needed in total and to turn the height adjustment screw on one of the legs
>car makes "clanking noises" when on bad roads or bumpy roads
Hood is not completely locked in. They also left the windshield fluid cap open and it has soaked the entire engine in fluid
>oven door is squeeky
Literally two drops of motorcycle chain lube, one on each latch

Every single one of these things were either something they thought was just going to have to be that way from now on, or something they were going to hire a specialist/mechanic/worker to fix

I really do wonder how people get by

>accumulate a ton of tools while living in apartments with no place to put them
>finally buy a house with a single garage
>stack the walls with shelves and hang my tools with pride

This felt pretty fucking good.

>brother-in-law wants to lower his Accord
>always had a fear and paranoia of doing suspension work because things can go from bad to fucking rekt in a jiffy
>managed to remove all 4 struts and install the coils in 6 hours

If my body wasn't so sore afterwards, I probably would have jizzed on his car from accomplishment.

>Hood was not completely locked in

How the fuck does somebody not notice that? I pray for your nephew

I'm really looking forward to having a proper garage, someday. Working on my car on the side of the road isn't that great.

That's some ridiculous shit. I'll never understand how people with access to the internet can be so bad at learning how to do mundane tasks.

I will have to teach him, somehow...

They're both excellent within their interests (hiking, cross country skiing and similar stuff), and their jobs (both nurses), but seem to be completely inept when it comes to actually "doing" something, wether it be repairing, maintaining or creating.

I like to theorize that its a very strong lack of understanding how things work. Understanding the construction of something is essential to working on that thing, wether it be a transmission, a door hinge or a chair leg

No interest in even attempting = nothing will ever be learnt = furthering the non-interest in fixing things yourself

well done OP.

I've found that the key to happiness in life comes from two things. Love (family, friends, spouse) and accomplishment. The only thing that can compare to the deep sense of joy that a loving family can provide is the feeling of putting in hard work and being able to reap the reward. It is almost as deep and very long lasting.

I strongly recommend anyone with depression to get into fixing/improving. Seriously. You can't be sad when you just made something better. This is how depressed comedians like Robin Williams found any joy in life. The only reason he had purpose was because he could improve other's lives. As we saw, when that went away, so did his incentive to live.

>You can't be sad when you just made something better

Only one way to find out, I guess. Time to learn to wrench. Any resources you recommend?

caring for your car is what youd consider a labour of love. it takes alot of time and interest into building that knowledge and completing the task. most people only own a car to get to point a to point b while looking stylish.

ChrisFix on youtube is a pretty decent way in for beginners. He does some decent overviews for lots of simpler jobs, just be sure to read up on them more before you try it yourself.

>Be me
>Job is so close i could walk to work
>Borrowed parents car that lived nearby when i wanted to go get groceries
>Really wanted a car
>Find Veeky Forums
>Find a V6 toyota shitbox for sale less than 3 blocks away for $800
>Run vin check
>Was dealership maintained up until 110K
>60K after that was nothing
>Fuck it
>Beat to shit, but runs
>Buy it
>Start working on it
>Replace struts
>Tires
>Rotors
>Broken piece of the center console
>O2 sensor
>Spark plugs
>Radiator and hoses
>Drop transmission pan and change the filter
>Change oil, coolant, ATF, and oil filter
>Clean throttle body and IAC
>Drives like a fucking champ now
>4 months later
>Have to replace valve cover gaskets, intake plenum gaskets, and the PCV valve soon
>Mfw Veeky Forums managed to get me to enjoy cars

I know that feel, OP.

>(hiking, cross country skiing and similar stuff), and their jobs (both nurses),

Its always the medical workers.

I just did my brakes recently too

brakes are so under rated on this board.

Wish i could get a 6pot setup cheap but used 4pot will have to do

Get yourself a Hanes manual or similar manual for the car. Pretty good instructions on how to do everything.
Also fix things up around your house. Simple woodwork and simple electronics/wiring can make a big difference. Things like buying cheap LED lighting for your kitchen can be a really fun project to get working and is really enjoyable to use when finished.

Can't really be sure from that pic, but the back side of that rotor might be thinner than the front. Possible sign of caliper or caliper piston sticking. It might just be the angle of the photo.

How was the wear on the inside vs outside pads?

> Be at shop Saturday
> Woman brings in her civic
> The car is in terrible condition
> We have to circle a shit load of Unrelated Prior Damage
> Inside of her car is EXTREMELY dirty, animal hair is caked on ALL the seats, car is full of trash
> Ignoring this, I turn the car on to pull into my stall
> Christmaslights.jpg
> Check engine light on, abs light on, traction control light on, tpms light on.
> Worst of all console says "Engine maintenance 9,999+ overdue"
> Mfw

>cheaping out on rotors and not getting painted ones.
gaaaaaaaay

>People don't want to buy tools
>No space
>Lazy

Kys fag

I hope you cleaned and greased the slide pins, otherwise you'll end up with only half of the caliper engaging.

TFW have slightly oversized rx8 brakes on my mx5 and did the swap myself.

Very satisfying time wrenching and noticeable upgrade

Sure did. Cleaned them up and hit them with a bit of white grease.

Everything seemed even, but I'll give it another look, just to be sure.

The reason I dont work on my own car is because I don't have a decent place to do so, not even a driveway. And before you say hurrdurr do it on the road near your house. No. I will top off my fluids and do some small things on the car but I'm not going to jack it up to do anything other than changing the tyres, its way to ghetto to fix your car in the street and generally looked down on.

drive to a friend's driveway or a fucking wallmart parkinglot after work my dude

I agree that its looked down on. But what's more important to you? Your rep or your car?

I've gotten too many retarded questions and requests after studying with 100 or more of completely useless people, most of them car related

>MB, my car has this weird light for a few days now
Its the damned windshield fluid light

>MB, my car pulls to the left really hard
All four tires are baldish and on the wrong way, its mid-winter and the two on the left are down to single-digit PSI

>MB, my Golf runs like shit and smokes
Apparently he had been visting some family, run a bit low on gas and borrowed a cannister of "fuel", which turned out to be diesel. No wonder how the thing even ran, knowing how picky modern engines are with even a tiny bit of diesel in the system

And the one that baffled me the most;
>MB, how do you like keep your car so clean and tidy on the inside and outside?
Oh I don't know, fucking cleaning it and not leaving trash in it?
Her shitty Volvo V70 was a nightmare. It had a super thick layer of brown water & mud up until the windows, and both front and rear windshields were so fucking matted down from being used on dirty windshields that you could not see out of them with any amount of light shining on. Interior was black with tons and tons of makeup marks, nail clippings, discarded food wrappings, bottles, papernotes and whatnot

I understand that not everybody needs to know how to do a proper polish & wax, or how to smoothly change tie rods, but just basic washing & keeping it tidy? I wish

That color combo is 90s as fuck. I love it.

Well, for me it's because they have someone in the family to do it for them. I'm a computers guy, do when something goes wrong (which it does), I get a call.

Tried teaching them, but all I get is a "what's the point if you can already do it for us".

It's less so with cars, since most of us are into cars, but that's how most people think

So much this

>Dad makes friends with gear head
>exchange fine woodworking know how for auto repair know how
>he gets a furniture quality custom wood bed in his 1950 F1
>he shows us how to work on our shitbox
>do timing belt, front struts, ect. with his help
>get my own shitbox that needs some work
>offers us a place in his garage and the tools to do the work.

I got a job at an auto shop and it's pretty badass. I didn't know a god damn thing about cars, but they helped me out and let me work on my car when we're slow or when the shop is closed. I can use all of their tools whenever i need to. I went several years with nothing but oil changes because i couldn't afford anything else, but I was finally able to take care of some major issues. All I need now are shocks and struts and maybe control arms if it still makes noise.

>Everything seemed even

Probably just the photo. Sticking caliper will eat one pad much faster then the other. Something you'd notice with the old pads.

don't get a proper garage

I've got a 40x30 with a lift and all I've done is fill it with parts, and then filled a two car garage I borrow from a friend in town with parts.

Cars are terrible.

>I make poor life choices
Okay

>Interior was black with tons and tons of makeup marks, nail clippings, discarded food wrappings, bottles, papernotes and whatnot

RX8 brakes on which Miata gen? NA ? NB ? NC? really curious about it.
I got a NA and i seriously needs bigger brakes.

I like working on my car. Have done most of basic maintenance and would like to tackle some bigger issues myself but I'm going to need second car for that to happen, because I'm afraid I'll mess something up and it takes time to fix myself and that leaves me carless for x amount of time and I can't rely on someone loaning me theirs.

How much better is a BBK over performance pads and rotors?