RE: New Car New Brake Style
You are viewing a single comment's thread:
I think it's pretty amazing to be able to do all these repairs. Recently, with my converted van, the alternator fell out while I was driving.
I wanted to reassemble it myself, but I had to do some welding because a metal fastener was broken. So I had to be towed to the nearest garage. They did the repairs (welding + changing the alternator belt, as it had broken in the breakdown).
At the time, I didn't feel like doing the welding.
On the other hand, I recently had to change my brake discs. My mechanic did it. I watched several videos, but I was afraid of several things:
- buying the wrong part.
- fitting the brakes incorrectly and risking an accident on the road (with my converted van, I do a lot of mountain roads).
0
0
0.000
Oh man an alternator fell out? That's pretty crazy lol I've never seen that before. It does take some time and skill to learn the repairs but brakes are one of the first and best ones to start with for most people! With the internet these days it's very easy to get the right parts even looking at the stores. If you compare it like I do on the spot before you break open the package you can find out pretty easily if it's correct or not.
Hopefully you get to do some repairs on your own one of these days!
The garage owner didn't believe us either when we talked about it on the phone. But in fact, it's the cause of several small problems. A year ago, we had the alternator replaced by a garagiste (a well-known company in France with several garages). Usually, we prefer to go to small garages that work alone, small craftsmen. But the one we used to go to didn't want to do the repairs because he didn't have the space or the time.
So we had it changed at the big company, which sometimes handles dozens of cars in a row at the same time all day long.
We left with it and drove 5,000 km. When we started up, there was a sort of whistling sound. Now I know it's the alternator belt that wasn't properly tensioned. After a while, we actually lost a bolt. We didn't know where it came from, despite a long search. Today, we know that it was holding the alternator. Since then, we've driven another 5,000 km.
But it was only 2 weeks ago, after following a really bad road due to roadworks, that we heard a huge noise of something falling. And it was our alternator.
When we saw that, and what the mechanic showed us too, we immediately made the connection with everything that had happened and everything I told you in this comment.
But yes, the next time I have repairs to do, like brake discs and pads, I promise to do it myself!
Haha damn that’s a wild story! It almost sounds like fiction but I’m not surprised with some of that stuff. People cut corners sadly and do a job poorly!
Yes, but I don't want to say that the work was badly done. Maybe after the trip to the garage, I took a lot of bad roads and the nuts came loose. Well, a nut shouldn't unscrew so easily. But I've taken some dirt roads off-road a few times.