A touch of good news

[Rapscallion]

On my usual day off from work, I had chance to get my car seen to. The exhaust has been knocking like a bugger when there are more than two people in there and grounding. Looked like a suspension job. I figured a reasonable estimate would be £300 to get this sorted out, leaving me a bit of spare change.

One quick visit to the garage, two replaced exhaust supports (perished rubber), and £20 later, the Bastardmobile is back to its former glory.

Whee doggy!

I can pay a larger chunk off my mortgage now! Maybe afford a new computer chair.

Rapscallion

[Bella_Vixen]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!



:lol:

[Rapscallion]

Well, I recently got back from splurging on a couple of new tyres, what with the rear ones having screws in them, but I spent just over £100 total today. Far better than I expected.

Rapscallion

[Boozy]

Lucky bastard. :p

Last week, I took my car in for a quick tune-up. Next thing I know, my mechanic's telling me that the brake lines are totally corroded. The damn thing was so unsafe to drive and so expensive to repair that I called a scrap dealer and told them to haul it off.

[Rapscallion]

Even better, I received a couple of shirts in the mail today - they took five days from Americaland and have ninjas on the front.

Swanky!

Rapscallion

[Tanasi]

Lucky bastard. :p

Last week, I took my car in for a quick tune-up. Next thing I know, my mechanic's telling me that the brake lines are totally corroded. The damn thing was so unsafe to drive and so expensive to repair that I called a scrap dealer and told them to haul it off.

You got hosed. Brake line is made of stainless steel and it doesn't corrode, and if they had leaks pre-bent replacements are cheap.

[Rahmota]

You got hosed. Brake line is made of stainless steel and it doesn't corrode, and if they had leaks pre-bent replacements are cheap

Yeah Boozy. It souds like it was kinda a hose job there. I replaced all 4 lines on my caddy from the ABS unit to the wheels for a little over 20$ bucks by doing the job myself. And while brake lines do wear out and get rust/corrosion ,especially in salt weather states, these where the factory original 1992 brake lines on my caddy so they dont wear out quick.

Also the emergency/parking brake is connected to the rear wheels by a cable on most cars so it can be driven if you are in dire needs of gettign somewhere safe with the car even with total failure of the main hydralisc system. Of course by this time you are in limp home mode and 10 mph is the top recommended speed but it can be done. I've drivin over 20 miles in a car with no brakes because I couldnt afford a tow bill to bring it home and couldnt find anyone who could bring me to my pickup to drag the beast home myself.

As for Raps: Cool. See it does work out in the end doesnt it. Sorry for the hijack of the thread there.

[Rapscallion]

As for Raps: Cool. See it does work out in the end doesnt it. Sorry for the hijack of the thread there.

Good advice for fellow members is good advice :)

Rapscallion

[wolfie]

Well, I recently got back from splurging on a couple of new tyres, what with the rear ones having screws in them,

Raps, how the heck did you manage that? It sounds as if you and a BOAT backed into each other.

:lol:

[Jester]

Also the emergency/parking brake is connected to the rear wheels by a cable on most cars so it can be driven if you are in dire needs of gettign somewhere safe with the car even with total failure of the main hydralisc system. Of course by this time you are in limp home mode and 10 mph is the top recommended speed but it can be done. I've drivin over 20 miles in a car with no brakes because I couldnt afford a tow bill to bring it home and couldnt find anyone who could bring me to my pickup to drag the beast home myself.

Um, all of the above doesn't exactly sound SAFE. I mean, I am sure it can be done in a pinch, but this is hardly something you would want to recommend to someone else to do, whether or not they are getting hosed by their mechanic. Brakes are very important in a car, kids, and to advise someone that they can drive with only their emergency brake, especially if they are not as experienced a driver as you, is just not really the best idea.

[Rahmota]

Um, all of the above doesn't exactly sound SAFE

You are correct it does take some intense concetration and driving attention to do it but it can be done. My apologies for not stating it as clearly as when I said getting somewhere safe I was not referring to the method of getting there but the physical location of you or the car.

Say you are in a very bad neighborhood where getting out and waiting for a tow truck is not exactly the most healthy. Or if your car is on the freeway and sitting along the side of the interstate is not a healthy place. If the physical location you are in is not safe then you can use this method to get yourself to another position that may be more safer and controlled for your situtation.

As always a person's own discretion as to what constitutes safe, secure or they feel comfortable and capable of have to be considered. I am very comfrotable behind the wheel and have both had experience and training in alternative driving methods. My apologies again if I over estimated the capabilities of others as well.

[Rapscallion]

Raps, how the heck did you manage that? It sounds as if you and a BOAT backed into each other.

:lol:

Self-tapping screws - just deciding to get stuck in the treads and let the air out.

The area I live in doesn't really allow for many people owning boats, but given the level of chavness around my place I wouldn't be surprised to have a boat back into the Bastardmobile :p

Rapscallion

[Becks]

Even better, I received a couple of shirts in the mail today - they took five days from Americaland and have ninjas on the front.


Oooooh, any pics of you modeling them?

[Rapscallion]

Perhaps later - intending wearing one to work on Friday.

Rapscallion

[Boozy]

You got hosed. Brake line is made of stainless steel and it doesn't corrode, and if they had leaks pre-bent replacements are cheap.

This car has been through 15 Canadian winters. Stainless steel does not corrode due to exposure to air and water, but the road salt does get to it eventually. :(

Thanks for your and rahmota's concern, but I didn't get hosed by my mechanic. The cost of the repair is not in the parts - it is in the time it would take him to fix the car. He advised me against the repair, given that the car itself is only worth a few hundred bucks. I didn't pay him a dime.

[crazylegs]

*cough*
Just in Case any brits try this http://www.online-court.co.uk/OnlineCourtIndex.asp?CP=91&Q=2
I would implore anyone who has no brakes on their vehicle not to drive it.

Raps, good to hear things aren't always expensive!

[Rahmota]

Boozy: Oh okay. i can understand when the cost of repairs exceed the value of the car. One of the reasons I do my own repairs. And oh yeah the salt gets the car more than just plain air and water. Fender wells, brake lines, underbody metalwork all sorts of fun and lovely things happen. So yeah a 15 year old car can be a lot worse off. My mistake. So I take it there was a lot more wrong with the car than just the brake lines? Which scrapping it on just the brake lines would have been a bad idea but some other stuff could definately be a good reason.

Crazylegs: Yes I know that. It illegal to drive a car in an unsafe condition stateside as well. But fortunately as long as you don't get in a wreck, cause a disturbance, or try and get the car inspected with the brake lines busted nothing will happen to you as our cops are not that much busybodies or nannies. Some traffic laws are there for safety reasons, some can be ignored and some are just there for the cops to make money on or be arseholes about.

And I was saying a person can drive their car like that in an emergency or if they have no other options to get the car back home or to a mechanic to get it fixed. And then only if they are comfortable with the requirements of that kind of driving and capable of meeting them. The only times I have done it is for those reasons. Ie to get home so I can get the car up on jack stands to repair it.

Raps: Ninja Shirts. Cool. If their stealth ninjas make sure they dont get lost in your closet.

[Spiffy McMoron]

Oooooh, any pics of you modeling them?

Ninjas don't like it if you take their picture. TRUST me. :lol:

[myswtghst]

I'm happy for you Raps. I recently (as posted in another thread) had a full on adventure with my car, and in the end, dropped near $1000 to fix a window that fell out, a number of brake problems and more. Thank goodness for the extended warranty or I would have been out plenty more. Also included in that total are the four new tires purchased, and a follow up visit to the mechanic because we noticed that my headlights were kind of....veering downwards. One of them is stripped and will eventually have to be replaced, but they were able to fix the other one. :p

[wolfie]

Self-tapping screws - just deciding to get stuck in the treads and let the air out.

The area I live in doesn't really allow for many people owning boats, but given the level of chavness around my place I wouldn't be surprised to have a boat back into the Bastardmobile :p

Rapscallion

Raps, I was making a joke, seeing how you're in Britain, and even civilain Brits (this side of the pond, it's mostly naval personnel) refer to a boat's propellors as screws.

[Becks]

Perhaps later - intending wearing one to work on Friday.

Snazzy. :D

Ninjas don't like it if you take their picture. TRUST me. :lol:

I'll try to trust you.

I have issues. :p

[Rapscallion]

Raps, I was making a joke, seeing how you're in Britain, and even civilain Brits (this side of the pond, it's mostly naval personnel) refer to a boat's propellors as screws.

Sorry - I knew what you were referring to, but I got an image in my head of what some of the people around here would do with a boat. Some of them would think it to be rather natty headgear, so I went off on a mental tangent.

Rapscallion

[daleduke17]

Well, I recently got back from splurging on a couple of new tyres, what with the rear ones having screws in them, but I spent just over £100 total today. Far better than I expected.

Rapscallion

Now if you would go get TIRES then you wouldn't have the problem with those cheap knockoffs. :-p

(On this side of the pond some less than honest people will make items with closely spelled names to try and hose people. I know that is not the case here. Just had to raz ya a bit, Raps).

[Rapscallion]

Just got a letter from the bank. I paid £600 off the capital of an £85k mortgage (25 years) and that dropped my payments every month by £3.50, give or take. Yeah, not much, but I can afford almost an extra pizza every month now!

Huzzah?

Actually, I was expecting sort of that amount of a drop (hoping for a little more, but compound interest confounds me), and after another couple of reductions and a couple of pay rises, I'm going to be in a far better position. I'll be able to knock larger lumps off, or similar more frequently. Life is looking rosier and rosier.

Rapscallion

[Tanasi]

Raps,
Simple compound interest = (Principle * (APR/12))
I hope you got a fixed rate instead of a variable.
For the kind of money you still owe a small pay down won't make much of a difference now but will be seen on the end of the loan. If I was you I would continue to make the same payment an have the extra applied to the principle, just like whizzing in the ocean, every little bit helps.
We had a 30 year morgage on our home/farm and I applied every spare cent to the principle and we paid it off in 12 years and saved 10s of thousands of dollars in interest.

[Rapscallion]

Well, I did some more figuring. The £600 I paid off means that over the remaining twenty-four years (plus a bit) I'll save myself £985. Not bad. On the down side, the increase caused by inflation means that £3.50 will be a negligible sum in ten years (not much now - but you can get a decent butty and a drink for that), but on the plus side increases in my wages over ten years will result in a significant benefit.

I'm on a twenty-five year mortgage, but the first ten years are fixed at 5.35% (the rate when I started). Since then, rates went up, so I feel smug about that. The base rate right now is 5.5% (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7180758.stm), so in relative terms I'm doing rather nicely (doing better than if I took the mortgage out now, but still paying what I'm paying).

By the end of ten years, I aim to have made at least ten more payments of that amount or more, probably much more each time. By the time I'm out of my fixed rate, I should be able to knock many lumps off the principle on a regular basis and have a much happier life.

It's going well so far.

Rapscallion

[Primer]

I usually put an extra hundred dollars per month against my principle, but it all comes off the back end. Monthly payments stay the same. Adjustments are made only if escrow is not enough to cover insurance and taxes.