Big Jim Donovan!

My apologies for not posting anaything here on Friday, as my Monday/Wednesday/Friday cardiac rehab routine is creating some new challenges to my creative process.  The results will be worth it, so I will continue to work to make time to fit in all the important parts of my life.

The weekend was nicely punctuated with a visit to the auto shop, as both our cars were due for New York’s annual inspection–a somewhat tedious but I believe necessary task.  My wife had been concerned about her brakes, and wanted them checked and repaired if need be–which we both expected to cost us a pretty penny, since we assumed from the symptoms that there were damaged calipers and rotors (big money!). 

As it turned out, it was the suspension that was suspect, as both front springs were broken.  Not only is this obviously undesirable, but it won’t permit the car to pass inspection.  Needless to say, the work was done.  Throw in an alignment and replacement of associated front end parts, and the tab was at least what we expected for the brakes–which turned out to be mostly OK.  The rotors were warped, which accounted for the strange pulsing they were making.  Turns out it was less a safety issue as it was a comfort one, as the pulsing will just get progressively worse until you decide you don’t want to deal with it anymore.  The pads had normal wear, and were pronounced likely usable for another 8000 miles.  At the rate my wife uses her car–work to home round trip is maybe 5 miles–and her ability to tolerate the warped rotors, the brake repair could be postponed for months.  That was good news to me, because I’m not fond of turning over the cost of a decent-sized HDTV to a mechanic for some springs…

This entry was posted on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 11:51 am and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.