Dichotomy...

Brake job completed successfully. Total cost - about $65 (2 wheel cylinders, brake fluid, and a bleeder kit), and about 2 hours of my time. I'd like to point out that if I took my car to a mechanic, it would have taken at least 2 hours (including travel and waiting time) and I was quoted nearly $500 for the project. Yet again, DIY triumphs over The Man (in this case, Craven Auto). Of course, I haven't actually tested my brakes yet... But I bled them until there were no bubbles coming out and the pedal feels nice and stiff, so I'm reasonably confident that they'll be good to go. I'm going to wait until traffic dies down a bit and then head over to the outer ring of the mall parking lot and give them a shakedown. Be a good chance to see what my ABS feels like too. And to test out the new headlights I put in. Mine were getting really dull and it was hard to see at night, so I replaced them. I wanted to try those fancy new Silverstar blulbs, but they were hella expensive compared to the standard bulbs (which were 55W instead of the 51W bulbs I pulled out, so the normal ones are already better...). And fortunately I didn't have to touch the front brakes this time, and they're on a separate hydraulic circuit, so they should be as good as usual just in case my rear brakes aren't working quite right. Yay for working on my car myself and getting all gross and dirty (it makes me feel all manly) and probably inhaling some asbestos from the brakes!

Posted by Rev. Adam on Saturday, March 19, 2005 at 3:23 PM | Permalink