Where to start

[VWLuke]

Hello all,

I have been looking into car maintenance/mechanics night courses at the local college, and wondered if anyone had experience of these and if they were up to much?

Failing that, would anyone or any garage located in or around Darlington would be happy to show me the basics on an evening or weekend?

I have a decent idea about how everything works, and have done some reading, just lack practical experience.

I have seen a few suggest buying a cheap car to dismantle and rebuild, which isn’t feasible due to a lack of off street parking.

Sadly having a modern Golf means there aren’t many jobs that need doing (main dealer service history etc).

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

VWLuke

[trickywoo]

There are plenty of detailed YouTube videos. My suggestion would be to start with looking at brake pad and disc changing then suspension arms, then dampers and go from there.

Realistically you aren’t going to diy even a clutch until you have a fair few tools so probably not worth learning about that in the early stages.

[VWLuke]

What YouTube channels do you recommend?

[trickywoo]

The Autodoc ones are quite detailed but to the point. Search for autodoc brakes or whatever is of interest.

You can quickly see how some makes have different details but also how similar certain jobs are regardless of make.

Also have a look at the comments, if something is missed in the video people will say and autodoc are pretty good at accepting constructive criticism.

[anonymous-user]

ChrisFix is also good, find him to be quite easy viewing and entertaining at the same time, whereas the Autodoc ones are much more technical. This is better for specific stuff but not general learning.

[Peter911]

Most of us 'proper generation' learnt our trade fixing our bicycles, before moving on to mopeds, scramblers then cars. Know what a cross thread feels like, can thread a nut onto a bolt backwards through a hole in the dashboard with the nut held onto our fingertip by sweat or spit.

Know how not to over tighten or strip a thread by doing just that and losing skin off our knuckles.

You dont learn that on youtube.

Does youtube even know what a cotter pin is?

[trickywoo]

Peter911 said:

Most of us 'proper generation' learnt our trade fixing our bicycles, before moving on to mopeds, scramblers then cars. Know what a cross thread feels like, can thread a nut onto a bolt backwards through a hole in the dashboard with the nut held onto our fingertip by sweat or spit.

Know how not to over tighten or strip a thread by doing just that and losing skin off our knuckles.

You dont learn that on youtube.

Does youtube even know what a cotter pin is?

That’s all well and good but you aren’t just going to instinctively know how to change car brake pads having tinkered on a push bike.

Knowing that calliper slider pin bolts should just be nipped up and carrier bolts done up FT is what YouTube will teach you. Plus that a good torque wrench is essential.

The practical side is important but if you are sensible it will come quick enough. I’d sooner have a beginner do my brakes having watched YouTube than only messed around with a moped.

[Krikkit]

trickywoo said:

Knowing that calliper slider pin bolts should just be nipped up and carrier bolts done up FT is what YouTube will teach you.

A lot of youtube tutorials are wrong, there's no single way that applies to all applications. In my experience everything has a varying torque setting, even slider pin bolts.

What you really need is the workshop manual for the car you're working on - Haynes or knock-off manufacturer they're indispensable.