Road Trip Ahead

Published over 4 years ago

I've got a rather long drive coming up. I'll be traveling from Boston to North Carolina, and with all the stress that a journey like that will put on my car I want to be sure it's up to speed (no pun intended).

Monday I got the oil changed, the guys in the shop ever so helpfully reminded me that my brake pads needed to be changed. I knew it was true.

Wednesday I brought the car to a friend who is quite handy with a wrench, and he helped me change the brake pads, which saved me about $150, since the part only cost $45, and a shop would have charged me an arm and a leg for labor. Not that all that much labor is involved as long as you can actually get the leverage you need on the wrench. We removed 4 lug nuts to get each tire off then 2 bolts to detach the old pads, and presto change-O, new break pads. While we were driving in the car he noticed a sound I'd been "ignoring" for a while. Turns out one of the belts in my driver's side rear tire was broken, not a big deal if you're only driving an hour here and there, but where I am going to be driving for 12 hours straight he recommended I replace the tire, or it might bust if it gets too hot.

I considered it good advice, so Thursday I took it to BJ's to replace the tire. The kid comes out looks at the tire I need replaced, writes up the paperwork and sends me on my way. I went to work. About 5 hours later I called to check if the work had been done, and when I called the mechanic on the phone told me I needed to replace both rear tires since they were balled. Now I wouldn't have had a problem with this, if they had said when I walked in, "hey these are tires beat you need to replace both." But I hate calling and hearing over the phone when I can't even look at the vehicle that there's a problem and I need to spend more money.

Luckily my friend who did the work on the car remembered that both rear tires looked bald, and that it wouldn't be a bad idea to replace them both, so I gave the mechanic the go ahead to do the work.

oil change - $16

new brake pads - $45

2 new tires - $160

Not breaking down on the highway 250 miles from home - priceless