Car Repair in the Winter vs Any Other Time of the Year
Adam’s car is one of the cars hit by the Takata airbag recall. So I took it in the have that fixed. Roosevelt (the name of his hatchback) recently developed a slight vibration in the steering wheel which I assumed was an out of balance tire. Let’s go ahead and have that fixed before getting his car back to him. While driving his car to the mechanic I thought “hmmm, the car is slowing down faster than it should when I push the clutch in. I wonder if a brake caliper is sticking?” So I asked the mechanic to look at that. I was right, one rear brake caliper is sticking and the other shows signs of having stuck (i.e. bluing of the brake disc). So I thought I would use this moment to briefly explain the difference between car repairs in Wisconsin during the the Winter versus any other time of the year.
Any other time of the year other than Winter: I need new rear brake pads, discs, and calipers for the rear of the car? Well I can do that. I’ll set aside Saturday morning for that.
Winter in Wisconsin: I need new rear brake pads, discs, and calipers for the rear of the car and it will cost more than double the cost of me doing it myself? Yeah that seems fair. Do it.
My desire not to have to handle metal parts that have been sitting in negative temps turns me into a much better customer for auto mechanics.
SIDE NOTE – Yes I could use my garage but even that is more complicated than you would think. Salt and snow from the road make for a still very cold and wet garage floor.
SIDE SIDE NOTE – Conor, I hope you don’t mind that I used a photo of you from when we were working on Buddy.