The Brakes

I replaced the rear brakes on my car at the end of last week. It's been a long-standing issue that I've been waiting to fix for a little while now, and once you can hear the brakes working, it's generally a good indication that things need to be replaced. There's been a bunch of things that have gone wrong with my car since I've owned it, ranging from the more serious (transmission failure) to the incredibly minor, (windshield wipers needing replacement). When I've had the opportunity, I've opted to fix things myself. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that it's much, much cheaper. The estimated cost of brake replacement for the Mini was somewhere in the $300-$350 range. That's doable, but it takes a huge chunk of cash away from me. Fixing the brakes myself does more than save me money, however; it gives me some time learning just how my car works. Pulling the tire away gives me a good view of the suspension, and while I'm unscrewing or removing something, it gives me some time to actually examine how this works. It also gives me a bit more ownership of the car, making it a bit more my pride and joy, in a way.

Still, waiting to do the brakes, while possibly not the smartest thing to do, has imparted me with some lessons that have affected my driving habits. Coupled with the mindset of trying to save gas, I've come to change my driving habits in a way that makes me a better driver overall, I think. At the very least, it's gotten me thinking about how I'm driving, which few people seem to be able to do.

With the brakes going, I've learned better how to avoid using them. This doesn't mean that I didn't use them, but used them more sparingly, and drove in a way that meant that I didn't have to use them to the extent that I did. This means driving at a bit of a slower pace in traffic, giving myself more space between myself and the car ahead of me. Instead, I'd coast, downshift the car and take my foot off the gas, which helps bring down the car's fuel consumption a bit.

And it's worked - driving carefully, I've noticed a slight uptick in my car's fuel mileage, which is good, but I've also been a better driver around people. In doing so, I've noticed other bad habits that I've seen people doing - braking constantly, riding their brakes, tailgating other cars, braking while going uphill and not paying attention to the road through a variety of means.

While I've taken ownership of my car and responsibility for its maintenance, I've found that I've become more interested in the road and my own driving habits. Hopefully, with fuel at high prices and people watching where they put their money, they will do the same things.

Car Woes

So, about a week ago, I was en route to New York Comic Con, to hang out with some cool people, do some features and reporting for io9.com and volunteer with the 501st. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. A hundred miles down the road, in Putney Vermont, my car suddenly began to emit a grinding noise. It got worse with each gear, and remained while I was in neutral, but not with the clutch pulled in. I pulled over, with the sinking feeling that I wouldn't, for the second year in a row, make New York Comic Con. (Last year, I was away on business). I limped to the next exit a mile or so down the road, and waited for a tow truck after calling AAA. A couple hours later, I finally was picked up, and towed home. There was a bit of confusion at this point, because, not knowing what was wrong with the car, I wasn't sure if I could turn around on my own, or have to get towed. I ended up having to get towed, and didn't get home until a couple hours later. I will say that Henry, from Rod's Mobil, in Putney, was outstanding - he got me and my car home safely.

At first, everything seemed to point towards the clutch failing. The grinding, coupled with the clutch pedal, people seemed to think that it was the throw-out bearing having gone bad. At this point, it's not good news, but I thought to myself, especially since the car only has just under 40,000 miles on it, that it's better than the transmission going out.

Then I get a call from the garage that took a look at it, and the news wasn't good. They emptied the transmission out, and found a lot of metal shavings, which meant that the transmission essentially ate itself up. The past two days, I've been on the phone, and now have the car up at a transmission specialist. They've been looking at it, and said that a seal failed in the transmission, and the oil drained out, causing the transmission to fail. Looking around online, this seems to be a pretty common problem with the Midland transmission that was in it - I've come across a number of other complaints where similar things have happened, and as such, I'm looking at replacing the transmission.

The question now is: Do I replace the transmission entirely, with a newer brand (Getrag) that has worked much better, and now is placed in newer Mini Coopers, or should I look towards rebuilding the transmission, at the risk of having this happen again at some point? A newer transmission might be a bit more expensive, but it might last for more miles in the long run, as opposed to a solution that might be a bit cheaper.

I'm leaning towards going for a newer transmission, which might have more power and turning my car into a six speed, because of the longevity. I really don't want to be in this situation again, because it is an enormous hassel, not to mention draining financially and emotionally. I think that I could swing the extra expense with an addition to my car loan with the bank.  Does anyone have any ideas about this?

For the past week, I've been back to driving my old Chevy Prism, which is a completely different ride than the Mini. At this point, I'm horribly missing Maxine. The sound of the engine, the handling and the response that the MINI has is completely different than the Prism, and I really miss that. There's the minor things, such as having a CD player, heated seats, etc, that I also miss, because I've gotten so used to using them when behind the wheel.

I miss my car. I hope that it's on the road soon.

On Days Like These

My Saturday can best be described in a repeating series of one letter: EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Alternatively: [Excitement]^2

I got a new car. A 2002 Mini Cooper, in fact, a car that I've been wanting to get for literally years now, but I've either been intimidated by the fact that a good portion of them happen to have manual transmissions, or that I was never really in a position to be able to buy one until recently.

Last week, I came across an ad (thinking back, I can't for the life of me think how I got around to searching for one - probably just a whim, honestly) for a 2003 mini (This one had an automatic transmission) in Grand Isle for a very reasonable price. I ran some numbers and realized that this was something that was well within my budget. I talked with my dad about the possibility and for advice, and a day later, he let me know that there was another Mini for sale near where he worked - this one was slightly more expensive, but it had far fewer miles on it, and the difference, I reasoned, would certainly make up for the higher price in the long run. This was a 2002 Mini with 35,000 miles on it - at the price, it was certainly a good offer. This one was also a five-speed.

On Friday, went up to take a look at the two of them, looking first at the automatic one up in the Islands and loved it. The car handled great, and minus a few problems (tires were worn, and there was a small leak in the back somewhere) it seemed like a good deal. The next one was in Williston, and having learned to drive stick the day before at home and on some of the back roads of Moretown, I test drove this one out of traffic around my dad's office - it was a little different than the car that I practiced on, but I liked it just the same. The dealer, Williston Wheels, offered an additional price drop on it, which had me sold.

So yesterday, instead of trooping in New Hampshire, I called up the dealer and arranged to pick it up. Dad came along with me and we looked at the car again, then went to the bank, finalized the loan and paperwork, and the car is now mine. I got a very good loan rate, and I arranged it so that the payments will come directly from my paycheck, which will be really good. The rest of the day I spent getting used to the car and the 5-speed. I'm still not totally there when it comes to driving stick, mainly with starts and hill starts, but I'm getting better at it quickly. I spent a couple hours driving around in circles in an industrial park practicing, then went to see a couple of friends to show this off to them.

I'm very, very, very happy with this vehicle. The Mini handles very well, is responsive, beautiful and suits me well for what I need a car for. It's a huge step up from my other car - powered things, a CD player (this was a big plus for me, as my old car didn't have even a tape deck), remote entry, etc. While I liked my Prizsm, it was time for a change. There was a rash of problems this past summer that sapped up quite a bit of money, and honestly, I wanted something that stands out a little bit. It's not that I want to be noticed or something like that, but wanted something 'cool'. And this car is certainly cool.

I know when I first fell in love with the little car - when I saw the film The Italian Job, released in 2002, in theaters with some campers on a change-over weekend. The last half of the film basically runs as a commercial for the car as they zip around with a half ton of gold, in and out of traffic and through places that certainly aren't designed for cars. Since then, I've always seen them, especially in Europe, on the streets, and I've never gotten tired of how they look or wavered in really wanting one. So, I quite litereally have a dream car here.

Back to my original noise: EEEEEEEE!

New Car!

I just bought a car. It's a 1998 Chevy Prizm, essentially the same thing as a Toyota Carollia. I've driven a Toyota for years now, and loved it. This car's got the bare minimum of things. It's got a radio, no tape deck or CD player, manuel everything except the transmission, but it gets very good mileage with gas, so that was a huge plus. Just need to look up insurance and things like that.
Very excited about this. I'll take a picture or two when I find batteries for my camera.

Car Maintainence

So when I was out driving my car the other day, the brakes starting making funny noises. Finished what I was doing, then my dad took the tire off and we found that the brake pads had worn down to nothing, leaving me with a loud grinding noise. So while we were fixing that, we found that a couple of other random things were wrong. The rotors had to be taken off, and we ended up bending a socket wrench trying to get one bolt off. So my car's out of commission for a little while. Joy.

Classes start tomorrow, and I'm still only signed up for two out of the six or so that I need. Grr... Most of my friends are in though, hung out with them for a little while tonight. It was good to reconnect.

Oh yeah, Gateworld just opened up a new Serenity site!: http://www.gateworld.net/firefly/index.shtml

And, because I'm bored:

The Meme - WITHOUT LOOKING PAST THIS FIRST LIST, choose 12 characters from fandoms you know and love. (Taken from James)

1- Mal Reynolds (Firefly)
2- Lee Apollo Adama (Battlestar Galactica)
3- Hellboy (Hellboy Comics)
4- Spiderman (Spiderman Comics)
5- Han Solo (Star Wars)
6- Kaylee (Firefly)
7- Jayne (Firefly)
8- Frodo Baggins (Lord of the Rings)
9- Lyra (His Dark Materials)
10- Robert E. Lee (Coyote)
11- Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)
12- Kara Starbuck Thraice (Battlestar Galactica)