For those that may be curious about basic maintenance on a traditional vehicle, I will be doing some maintenance on my truck in about 10 to 15 days (very flexible on the date) to include but not limited to:
Brake pads
Brake fluid (should be flushed every two years or so)
Engine oil and filter
Automatic transmission fluid and filter
Transfer case oil (4 wheel drive only)
Front and rear differential oil
Drive belt - how to check for wear and replace
Locate recent knock in front suspension - could be a sway bar link, tie rod end, etc and how to check.
Under hood and under body inspection for any others issues
Are you installing speed bleeders to make the fluid swaps easier? I’ve had those on all my previous Miatas and will be putting them on my current MX5 when the factory warranty expires.
Interested and watching for schedule info…
Sunday is almost always no-go for me.
TLAR’s Saturday after 4:30p works for me.
Corbimos’ weeknights after 6p usually works for me, though after 7 is better.
I’ll break up the maintenance into different evenings
I can do “show and tell” with brakes & more on different nights - to help out folks at the space
Automotive brake repairs account for the majority of vehicle service and are the most profitable - this is one repair that is straight forward on 98% of recent vehicles sold in the US market. (for those that are curious as to the above statement regarding brake repairs - I can dig up the industry briefings / periodicals that were part of my job working in sales/tech support for the largest wholesaler of imported auto parts in North America).
Routine maintenance on a vehicle is just that - a quick look in an owner’s manual will have a chart of “what to inspect” every X number of miles or years. It is unfortunate that the owner’s manual of most anything (esp a car it seems) is that least read document ever printed.
My ~9yr old Toyota SUV has about 75000 miles on it and I have been wanting to get brake pads replaced, as they are almost certainly in need of it. I’d definitely be interested in this “non-class” demonstration as well as offering up my vehicle as a guinea pig. Either way, I’m in if I can make whatever day & time is settled on.
Tom, even if not an official class, might it still be permissible for you to place something on the DMS event calendar or use Eventbrite (ticketing system) to manage the attendance?
As a follow up to this, Tom: What are your feelings on resurfacing/turning rotors versus just replacing at the same time as the pads? I’ve had issues with glazing on new pads with old rotors which were resurfaced, so my SOP is to spend the extra $80 and put new OEM rotors on with the new pads.
This depends on a few variables…(regarding STOCK / OEM brakes)
On many of today’s brake systems the rotors are more or less disposable
If the replacement cost is relatively low - it is a no brainer. Turning rotors / drums means relying on the parts store person doing it correctly (the odds of that happening are pretty low in too many cases).
Pad material is a consideration for rotor wear and glazing situations.
Proper bedding of the pad material is key to better braking and life of brakes (rarely if EVER done by those “certified” techs).
In the old days when parts (rotors) were made to the machined or were costly because they were made in the USA or Europe most chose the machine them. Today it is almost impossible to buy a rotor or drum made anywhere except China so most just replace them.
In many cases(the older days) the rotor didn’t need anything shy of scuffing and new pads, but marketing and cheap parts have made cars and parts more disposable than ever before. (the “green” movement in cars lead the way in our disposable lifestyle. Gone are repairing of components and sub-assemblies - now it is replace it and throw the old ones away)
Can someone find this engineer and slap some sense in them? I really can’t fathom why putting the clutch and brakes on the same system would be a good idea. I just see: oops, my brakes are out, let me compression brake, oops, my clutch is out, oops, I can’t match close enough under stress, (or ever for downshifting) oops, that was somebody’s rear bumper.
The worst part is they put DOT3 fluid in the system and the clutch will occasionally get real short at high rpms cause the fluid starts to boil. it happened to me yesterday when I ran up to (undisclosed speed) in the addison tunnel.