I took my car in for service this morning because the brakes were squealing a bit. I noticed it mostly when I pulled out of the driveway in the morning. They also seemed a little "hard" when I pressed the peddle. Turns out the mechanic knew exactly what that symptom meant. All four brake pads were shot, the rotors on the front needed to be resurfaced, and the back rotors replaced altogether as they were worn past the recommended limit. The service guy also discovered that I was missing one of the lug bolts on a back tire. Scary!!
But the biggest surprise...my tires were bald. Seems like I just got new tires. I was a bit skeptical, but after searching through my service records I discovered the tires had 70,000 miles on them and they had a 50,000 warranty. Well, I guess commuting (23 miles) and a couple of trips across the country adds up. Turns out I bought them almost 4.5 years ago. He mentioned that they had even wear. I was please to hear this. This was not the case with my last set of tires. I only rotated them once toward the end of their life which is not a good practice. I'm pretty good about keeping up with the maintenance schedule, but for some reason rotating the tires slips my mind.
Not looking forward to getting this credit card bill. Oh well. But, I'm glad for the new tires. I was amazed at the difference when I drove the car. It turns better, sounds quieter, and it's just a whole lot smoother.
3 comments:
Wow, you really needed brake work! Brakes and tires are probably my biggest worry with the car, so thank goodness we don't have to worry about them that often! After adding 20 lbs of air to a rear tire, my husband found a screw in the tire. Took it to the corner place, where they found an additional nail! Repaired with "plugs" for $7. Pretty cool. But we may have to replace them soon, anyway. Now to figure out what the grinding sound/feeling is, coming from underneath the car. Ack!
Thanks for the reminder that we need to take our cars in for check-ups!
By the way, I'm tagging you! The rules are posted at Okie Okasan (http://okieokasan.blogspot.com/).
Have fun!
Nina...I am amazed at how resilient tires are these days..."self healing" (at least for a little while). Good luck on your grinding sound. I hope it's something simple!
Okasan...Hey! Thanks for commenting and as I mentioned on your blog I think I'm up for the challenge. :)
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Btw...while driving through the parking garage last week I noticed my tires weren't squealing while rounding the corners. My old tires squealed incessantly. I thought it was because I was speeding (but only a little bit). It's strange, but I can actually feel the new tires grip the road. How strange is that!
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