My money pit

My car nickels and dimes me to death, i swear...So anyway, yesterday i finally got my damn passenger front wheel off....Most of you already know why i couldn't get it off...Cause my friend over-torqued my lock-lugnut and broke the key. So i grinded most of the lug off, no luck...Well yesterday, after $50 in drill bits, i finally busted it off. Pulled the wheel off, replaced the stud and realized my brakes are shot. The rotors were warped to all hell too. Go to Autozone, get some pads, nothing fancy just the average priced pads. Not cheapos, not the $60 ones. Go to a different auto store, pick up cheap rotors. ($50 for 2)Come back, start working on the brakes and i realize i have a bad tie-rod end! So i go back to autozone, pick one of those up. Come back, finish brakes on both sides in the front. So after busting my knuckles and damn near slicing my hand open cause the wrench slipped, i got the tie-rod end on the passenger side. So i start to put the wheel on the driver's side and realized i have a bad inner tie rod! Goddamnit! Back to the parts store. Come back, replace the tie rod. By now this is turning out to be an all day project. So i get both wheels on. No play in either wheel. Good! So i go sit in the car to pump the brakes to get the pistons pushed out and against the pads. I get out to check each wheel. Driver side is good, spins freely. Go to passenger side. Wheel doesn't spin! It's locked up! FUCK! By this time i'm smokin like a chimney and mother fuckin' everything i see in sight, throwing tools and shit too...So i get the damn wheel back off, look at the caliper. Take it off, to get a closer look...Push the piston back in, and it doesn't go all the way back in. The piston was seized. What the HELL! Back to the parts store. Core exchange on a new caliper. Come back, replace the caliper, bleed the brakes, put the wheel back on. Pump the brakes, they get stiff. I get out to check the wheels and they both spin freely. Drop the car back to the ground, start her up to take her for a test drive and as i'm backing out of the garage the steering seemed a bit weird. So i'm pulling out with the wheel straight and i start drifting off into the grass! Get it on the road and here i am driving with the steering wheel turned 90 degrees going straight! Son of a bitch as i was putting the tie-rod end on i was doing it in a bit of a hurry and didn't take my time to mark, or even realize i was turning the tie rod. Damnit! So here i am waiting to get my car back from an alignment that was scheduled at 2. I figure there are 4 different ways i could die. 1. Lung cancer from smoking so damn much because of my car stressing me out. 2. Wrap my car around a tree doing 120+ because my tie-rod end snaps off lol. 3. Have my car fall on me when i'm under it. 4. Heart attack from too much stress. Anyway, when i get her back a little later she should drive like brand new......I would hope :)

Sorry to here about it. DSM's live to piss you off. I love mine even its motor is blown.

lol ya but you gotta love it

just think of the learning experience you've just had now doing all that work. next time i need advice on how to replace something on my frontend, i'll just ask you :)

Yeah, that is some MAD work there. Wish i was there to see you drive with your wheel at 90 degrees. Haha
Thanks for fixing my radiator hose by the way.
... probably see you this next weekend again so you can tune my DSM LINK ... :grinyes:

SySt3mR00t WELCOMR to AF, I love you paint job. And it sounds like one hell of a day, I feel bad but yeah it prolly was one hell of a learning experience.

I too hate my car and i still can't sell it. After going through 2 turbos, cylinder head, tires, brakes, and various other things to get it ready for the road my awesome gas line from the sending unit has a pin sized hole it!!!

On the bright side i bought myself a pez dispencer today...

just think of the learning experience you've just had now doing all that work.

And dont forget that you wont have to worry about that shit for another 100k miles :) Doing maintenance stuff sucks, but at least you know when it was last done. I was pissed about spending 2 grand on the trucks front end, but it comes with piece of mind that its all in good shape and not having to look forward to doing it later. Doing maintenence work isnt as bad as knowing that you still have to do that maintenence work soon, IMO :D