I had been told time and again by my disgruntled parents that having a car is like throwing money down a bottomless pit and until now I wasnt inclined to agree with them.
I bought my car with the view to save as much money as possible, the car itself is a diesel so it has good mileage to the gallon, it has low emissions so my car tax is only £55 when others are £105 and I only have to fill the car up once a month. This meant my car wasnt the biggest money burner.
The last couple of days the car had been making screeching noises as I turned to the right, I thought it could be a loose wheel at first. As the days passed, it progressed from just turning right into churning away metal on metal when I was driving normally. So today the car was booked in to see the mechanic, I get a call around lunchtime. Bad news.
Turns out the bearings had completely disintegrated and the wheel was probably one journey away from the wheel falling off and me crashing into a ditch. The mechanic had to order a whole new part and it looks to be another day until it comes, I get the feeling it could be stretching the bank balance as you cant just replace the bearings in the car, you need a whole new part which obviously will cost more.
Expect a car based rant tomorrow!
October 20th, 2006 at 5:07 am
It does suck when things like that happen. The good news is that bearings in a front-wheel-drive car typically last longer than the car itself. That means you should spend some money on a lottery ticket, as your chances of winning are optimal right about now.
One thing your mechanic may have failed to mention, or even suggest, is that front-end alignment and possibly new tires will be in order. Also, new brakes might not be a bad idea while he’s at it, especially since the wheel was running un-true to the rest of the rig. As such, the brake pads are probably worn uneven and the rotor might be as well.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that’s just what happens with this kind of thing. The positive side of it, though, is that once you take care of these things, you’ll likely not need to again as long as you have the car. If you do, don’t venture outside in thunderstorms, and buy two lottery tickets every friday.