How do so many PH-ers know how to tinker??
Discussion
Hi All
I've loved cars since I was young and have read car magazines/dragged my dad to test drives since I can remember. My passion runs deep, but other than a basic understanding of how engines work, I would have no idea where to start if I were to tinker on my car - I think it would probably take me a day to youtube how to change an oil filter...
A lot of reader's cars threads start with an average family man buying a vehicle, followed by pages and pages of detailed pics of how everything on the vehicle is changed, repaired, upgraded, etc all by the owner themselves. Surely not every petrolhead on this forum went through years of car mechanic education and apprenticeships.
My question is thus 2 fold - how did members on the forum learn to tinker on their cars, and if I wanted to learn from scratch, what would be the best way to go about it - im open to anything (buy a clunker and do one job at a time, online/in person courses, youtube vids, etc). Alternatively, if there is already a thread on this topic, please copy the linky.
Looking forward to some responses. Cheers
I've loved cars since I was young and have read car magazines/dragged my dad to test drives since I can remember. My passion runs deep, but other than a basic understanding of how engines work, I would have no idea where to start if I were to tinker on my car - I think it would probably take me a day to youtube how to change an oil filter...
A lot of reader's cars threads start with an average family man buying a vehicle, followed by pages and pages of detailed pics of how everything on the vehicle is changed, repaired, upgraded, etc all by the owner themselves. Surely not every petrolhead on this forum went through years of car mechanic education and apprenticeships.
My question is thus 2 fold - how did members on the forum learn to tinker on their cars, and if I wanted to learn from scratch, what would be the best way to go about it - im open to anything (buy a clunker and do one job at a time, online/in person courses, youtube vids, etc). Alternatively, if there is already a thread on this topic, please copy the linky.
Looking forward to some responses. Cheers
As you alluded to in your first post, it’s actually much easier these days because of internet guides and YouTube.
It still just comes down to practice though. A lot of jobs aren’t that difficult, it’s just having the confidence to do them. You’ll make mistakes, but hopefully ones that you spot and rectify because they cause an issue.
And tools. Sometime the right tool can be the difference between a 30 minute job and an all day ordeal.
It still just comes down to practice though. A lot of jobs aren’t that difficult, it’s just having the confidence to do them. You’ll make mistakes, but hopefully ones that you spot and rectify because they cause an issue.
And tools. Sometime the right tool can be the difference between a 30 minute job and an all day ordeal.
As others are saying, learn by doing. Sometimes it's trial by fire. You can't afford to fix something at a garage so you grab the spanners and do what you can. Sometimes, you enjoy it and then start thinking about what else you can do while you're there. One thing leads to another and all of a sudden you're torqueing down main caps and polishing camshaft lobes.
It's always worth remembering that it was designed by people so people should be able to simply take it apart and reassemble with the right part. I used to be terrified of simple things like changing oil. Stop thinking about it being so complicated and dumb it down for yourself. To change oil at a basic level is undo a bolt, wait for 5 minutes and put it back, unscrew a filter, screw on a new filter and pour oil in the top.
It's easier than ever now. Unless your car is really rare then the likelihood is that there are hundreds of tips, guides and videos that will show you how to do just about anything.
It's always worth remembering that it was designed by people so people should be able to simply take it apart and reassemble with the right part. I used to be terrified of simple things like changing oil. Stop thinking about it being so complicated and dumb it down for yourself. To change oil at a basic level is undo a bolt, wait for 5 minutes and put it back, unscrew a filter, screw on a new filter and pour oil in the top.
It's easier than ever now. Unless your car is really rare then the likelihood is that there are hundreds of tips, guides and videos that will show you how to do just about anything.
I quite enjoy it, and like other posters have said, practice.
Whats hard today is easy tomorrow if you do it.
So far this last week or two, changed front brake son wifes car, just changed a bulb on mine and an exhaust gasket on Sunday, plus got a service to do on my sons Golf in a week. Total saving there is probably £400, so me being tight helps as well.
People say they dont have time, but I find, for stuff I can do, doing it myself is quicker than booking it in, taking it somewhere, potentially waiting for it and then the time to earn the difference in what it cost vs diy.
First step is to actually look "My car is making a noise, from underneath", well maybe have a peek, sometimes easy to spot, sometimes not.
YouTube is a godsend, as is the net in general, I have a PC in my garage, I order parts as I go in a lot of cases, and tools. Usually its cheaper buying the required tools than paying someone elses labour. Plus having seen some appalling bodges by garages and main dealers, or work paid for just not being done, if I do it myself then I know its been done and I can spend a bit more time than a garage can afford to.
I am but an amateur compared to some in the Readers Rides section, building their own cars from scratch and allsorts. I will also defer when I know its out of my skill level, but not paying somebody for something I can do.
Whats hard today is easy tomorrow if you do it.
So far this last week or two, changed front brake son wifes car, just changed a bulb on mine and an exhaust gasket on Sunday, plus got a service to do on my sons Golf in a week. Total saving there is probably £400, so me being tight helps as well.
People say they dont have time, but I find, for stuff I can do, doing it myself is quicker than booking it in, taking it somewhere, potentially waiting for it and then the time to earn the difference in what it cost vs diy.
First step is to actually look "My car is making a noise, from underneath", well maybe have a peek, sometimes easy to spot, sometimes not.
YouTube is a godsend, as is the net in general, I have a PC in my garage, I order parts as I go in a lot of cases, and tools. Usually its cheaper buying the required tools than paying someone elses labour. Plus having seen some appalling bodges by garages and main dealers, or work paid for just not being done, if I do it myself then I know its been done and I can spend a bit more time than a garage can afford to.
I am but an amateur compared to some in the Readers Rides section, building their own cars from scratch and allsorts. I will also defer when I know its out of my skill level, but not paying somebody for something I can do.
Many are self-taught, using workshop manuals from the days before Youtube etc.. Modern electronics can make things more difficult without access to some form of diagnostics, but oil, filter changes, pads/discs et are still much the same, although some electric parking brakes require specific action before commencing, which is where t'internet can help
Have a read through the Home Mechanics forum on here, sign up to a model-specific car forum, buy a copy of Car Mechanics, which will give an idea of some jobs.
With the days of effectively £400-£600 oil changes for some cars now here, it doesn't hurt to know how to do it yourself.
Have a read through the Home Mechanics forum on here, sign up to a model-specific car forum, buy a copy of Car Mechanics, which will give an idea of some jobs.
With the days of effectively £400-£600 oil changes for some cars now here, it doesn't hurt to know how to do it yourself.
It really is a case of 'learning by doing' - get a Haynes manual (or similar) for your car and a basic all-in-one Halfords tool kit, start with the easy scheduled servicing jobs that are basically impossible to get wrong and barely require any tools (oil + filter, air filter for instance) then progress to simple jobs that need some tools and some nous (coolant changes, changing brake pads etc.) and just keep progressing. Once you've learnt your way around one car a lot of the basics are the same; you don't have to re-learn how to change an oil filter just because you're working on a different car, even if you might have to approach it in a slightly different way due to access.
I was fortunate in that my Dad is also into cars and had loads of classics, both as runners and as resto projects, so I grew up 'helping' him in the garage working on Morris Z-vans, Minis and Morris Minors. When I was about 10 Dad brought a Morris Minor engine back from the Beaulieu Autojumble and he built a sort of 'test rig' for it so the engine could run (with a radiator and fuel tank) like a stationary engine and he took me through servicing, setting the valve clearances and so on. Once I'd mastered that, together we stripped it down, put in new bearings, new crank seals, honed the bores, popped on new rings, renewed the valve stem seals and lapped in the valves and put it all back together. A while later we put a new camshaft and timing chain on it. Then a few years later (after another trip to Beaulieu) he came back with a knackered Morris Minor gearbox so we rebuilt that and then bolted it into the engine, with a new clutch and the addition of a hydraulic clutch mechanism (so I learnt about adjusting clutch freeplay and bleeding hydraulic systems).
I was fortunate in that my Dad is also into cars and had loads of classics, both as runners and as resto projects, so I grew up 'helping' him in the garage working on Morris Z-vans, Minis and Morris Minors. When I was about 10 Dad brought a Morris Minor engine back from the Beaulieu Autojumble and he built a sort of 'test rig' for it so the engine could run (with a radiator and fuel tank) like a stationary engine and he took me through servicing, setting the valve clearances and so on. Once I'd mastered that, together we stripped it down, put in new bearings, new crank seals, honed the bores, popped on new rings, renewed the valve stem seals and lapped in the valves and put it all back together. A while later we put a new camshaft and timing chain on it. Then a few years later (after another trip to Beaulieu) he came back with a knackered Morris Minor gearbox so we rebuilt that and then bolted it into the engine, with a new clutch and the addition of a hydraulic clutch mechanism (so I learnt about adjusting clutch freeplay and bleeding hydraulic systems).
It's a matter of confidence really, my actual physical 'ability' now is no different to say 15 years ago when I hadn't even seen a spark plug, but now I've built an engine (that works...) and will happily take on almost anything (yet to rebuild a gearbox or a diff, but will do at some point).
It's mostly just nuts and bolts (and evil sodding plastic trim clips
) none of it is actually that complicated.
You've largely hit the nail on the head already, Youtube. Unless you have an incredibly unusual and unpopular car, there will likely be someone somewhere who has made a video of themselves doing whatever task it is you're trying to undertake
A Halfords Advanced socket set will probably see you through 90% of tasks, but certainly for the first few years be prepared to have to seemingly buy a new tool for every new job you take on. One suggestion would be if you find you need to get a particularly large socket for something for example, buy a big set of impact sockets from Amazon or similar in lots of big sizes you don't have, same with hex drives, torx bits, E bits, buy the big sets each time and you'll suddenly find next time you come to do a job on a different car or a new job, you'll have the correct bit to hand...
If you want to enjoy learning, don't do it on your 'get to work' car, in my experience nothing saps the joy out of something like a deadline, being able to go "f
k this" and just leave it is very valuable to avoid making it a miserable chore that leaves you laying on your back in the rain under the car having a quiet cry to yourself in frustration
Where possible, have the right tools for the job, as mentioned above it'll turn a 5 hour ordeal into a 3 minute step.
Have things like copper slip, blue / red loctite, RTV, penetrating fluid, WD40, degreaser etc. available.
An impact wrench can be very helpful, and I've recently acquired a battery powered ratchet that also saves vast amounts of time and effort, although you're deeply into the 'nice to have' stage at that point, you can put a jack handle over the end of a halfords ratchet to break most things loose
A good heavy hammer as well, sounds silly, but sometimes things are a bit of an interference fit and you can spend ages trying to pry them or push them out, whereas one tap with a 4lb hammer and they pop straight out...
Anyway, long story short, Youtube mostly. If you have any friends that do their own spannering, offer to go and help / make the tea. You'll soon realise how simplistic (and robust) most parts of a car are and it'll help with the confidence to get on with it yourself in future.
Personally I didn't find the Haynes manuals much use, the pictures are woeful, and they typically are only helpful if you already know what to do. Youtube or marque specific forums are far more helpful as you get far more context in a video, and in forum threads you'll typically find other people have asked questions or offered solutions / alternatives etc.
It's mostly just nuts and bolts (and evil sodding plastic trim clips
) none of it is actually that complicated. You've largely hit the nail on the head already, Youtube. Unless you have an incredibly unusual and unpopular car, there will likely be someone somewhere who has made a video of themselves doing whatever task it is you're trying to undertake
A Halfords Advanced socket set will probably see you through 90% of tasks, but certainly for the first few years be prepared to have to seemingly buy a new tool for every new job you take on. One suggestion would be if you find you need to get a particularly large socket for something for example, buy a big set of impact sockets from Amazon or similar in lots of big sizes you don't have, same with hex drives, torx bits, E bits, buy the big sets each time and you'll suddenly find next time you come to do a job on a different car or a new job, you'll have the correct bit to hand...
If you want to enjoy learning, don't do it on your 'get to work' car, in my experience nothing saps the joy out of something like a deadline, being able to go "f
k this" and just leave it is very valuable to avoid making it a miserable chore that leaves you laying on your back in the rain under the car having a quiet cry to yourself in frustration Where possible, have the right tools for the job, as mentioned above it'll turn a 5 hour ordeal into a 3 minute step.
Have things like copper slip, blue / red loctite, RTV, penetrating fluid, WD40, degreaser etc. available.
An impact wrench can be very helpful, and I've recently acquired a battery powered ratchet that also saves vast amounts of time and effort, although you're deeply into the 'nice to have' stage at that point, you can put a jack handle over the end of a halfords ratchet to break most things loose
A good heavy hammer as well, sounds silly, but sometimes things are a bit of an interference fit and you can spend ages trying to pry them or push them out, whereas one tap with a 4lb hammer and they pop straight out...
Anyway, long story short, Youtube mostly. If you have any friends that do their own spannering, offer to go and help / make the tea. You'll soon realise how simplistic (and robust) most parts of a car are and it'll help with the confidence to get on with it yourself in future.
Personally I didn't find the Haynes manuals much use, the pictures are woeful, and they typically are only helpful if you already know what to do. Youtube or marque specific forums are far more helpful as you get far more context in a video, and in forum threads you'll typically find other people have asked questions or offered solutions / alternatives etc.
Edited by SturdyHSV on Tuesday 16th August 17:20
One of the best books i ever bought was the gigantic AA Book Of The Car, probably published the late 70's, ironically even though alomst no modern electronics are featured in the book for obvious reasons, the basic groundings of how cars work are still valid.
Basically back in the day we didn't have two happenies to scratch our arse with, we bought cars on the verge of scrapping, often needing extensive work, and we set about learning how to fix them, you could of course in those days spend many happy hours up to your ears in mud in scrap yards, not many new parts (apart from friction and basic service materials) went into our cars, our parts dept was the scrap yard.
We did daft things like dragged cars onto their sides onto a pile of tyres to wedl them underneath, we stood on wings with ropes around our shoulders and lifted engines out, we bodged our brakes till they worked right, most towns had a handy cottage workshop who for a note or two would reline your brake shoes and clutch plates.
No youngster apart from sons and daughters of the very wealthy had a car bought by mum and dad, and absolutely no youngster in our class (working class) had anything remotely like a new car.
Learning the basics just carried on as cars progressed, but it was based on being unable or very unwilling to pay garages money we didn't have.
50 years later i'm still doing most of the maintenance work on my own cars, i don't heave engines and boxes out any more if that is called for though.
Over the years one thing has ingrained itself, maintaining cars well including some anti corrosion treatment and giving the makers idea of servicing (ie long life oil changes, sealed for life gearboxes and no proper brake maintenance) a good ignoring will see your car last a very long time indeed, far past its typical life.
Most important tool you can buy? a quality trolley jack, and you won't get one for £100, a £250+ one will quite likely see your car maintenance days out, my previous which coast around £120 i think then that has seen serious abuse is still with my daughter giving good safe service to her some 35 years later.
Basically back in the day we didn't have two happenies to scratch our arse with, we bought cars on the verge of scrapping, often needing extensive work, and we set about learning how to fix them, you could of course in those days spend many happy hours up to your ears in mud in scrap yards, not many new parts (apart from friction and basic service materials) went into our cars, our parts dept was the scrap yard.
We did daft things like dragged cars onto their sides onto a pile of tyres to wedl them underneath, we stood on wings with ropes around our shoulders and lifted engines out, we bodged our brakes till they worked right, most towns had a handy cottage workshop who for a note or two would reline your brake shoes and clutch plates.
No youngster apart from sons and daughters of the very wealthy had a car bought by mum and dad, and absolutely no youngster in our class (working class) had anything remotely like a new car.
Learning the basics just carried on as cars progressed, but it was based on being unable or very unwilling to pay garages money we didn't have.
50 years later i'm still doing most of the maintenance work on my own cars, i don't heave engines and boxes out any more if that is called for though.
Over the years one thing has ingrained itself, maintaining cars well including some anti corrosion treatment and giving the makers idea of servicing (ie long life oil changes, sealed for life gearboxes and no proper brake maintenance) a good ignoring will see your car last a very long time indeed, far past its typical life.
Most important tool you can buy? a quality trolley jack, and you won't get one for £100, a £250+ one will quite likely see your car maintenance days out, my previous which coast around £120 i think then that has seen serious abuse is still with my daughter giving good safe service to her some 35 years later.
Edited by Smint on Tuesday 16th August 17:28
My Dad spent every weekend fixing cars, his and other peoples, and I spent those weekends getting in his way as I grew up - clearly a lot of it rubbed off and stayed with me(thanks Dad 
)
One thing to remember, the garage mechanic isn't a magician so with some careful thought you can generally work out where things are and how to take it apart. The inevitable Haynes manual was my friend for years - read it before doing the job, during the job, and possibly after when you try to work out where that weird piece that is left over fits. And never start a job on a Sunday afternoon if you need the car to get to work on Monday morning....
)One thing to remember, the garage mechanic isn't a magician so with some careful thought you can generally work out where things are and how to take it apart. The inevitable Haynes manual was my friend for years - read it before doing the job, during the job, and possibly after when you try to work out where that weird piece that is left over fits. And never start a job on a Sunday afternoon if you need the car to get to work on Monday morning....
Without sounding too much like an old fart, I wonder if it's an age thing?
Used to be that you'd buy an older/knackered car when you passed your test that always needed something doing to it: your dad, a friend, a neighbour or whoever would show you the ropes. You did it because you needed your car running.
Modern cars (ha!) are supposed to be more reliable (double ha!) so people don't have the initial "let's get down to the scrapyard and get some bits" mentality.
Not having a dig at people with a PCP or new car and I appreciate that not everyone 'back in the day' worked on their own cars... but it was certainly a thing 10 or certainly 20 years ago that you'd see people tinkering under the bonnet (for tinkering read: swearing) most weekends.
Times change.
It just doesn't seem to be the culture to fix a car to keep if going any more for a large part of the population. And that's fair enough, but it ain't for me.
I'll do most jobs on car (side of the road mechanic here) but I draw the line at engine swaps in the rain and anything that involves squiring around on my back for a whole weekend these days - getting a bit old for that sort of thing.
OP: as others have said, YouTube is EXCELLENT for learning how to twirl the spanners... I look at videos all the time and I've been working on/restoring cars for 25 years plus. Best way to learn will always be to have a go your self though. Start with little jobs and work your way up. Maybe ask on your local facebook group page is anyone can help in exchange for beer tokens?
Used to be that you'd buy an older/knackered car when you passed your test that always needed something doing to it: your dad, a friend, a neighbour or whoever would show you the ropes. You did it because you needed your car running.
Modern cars (ha!) are supposed to be more reliable (double ha!) so people don't have the initial "let's get down to the scrapyard and get some bits" mentality.
Not having a dig at people with a PCP or new car and I appreciate that not everyone 'back in the day' worked on their own cars... but it was certainly a thing 10 or certainly 20 years ago that you'd see people tinkering under the bonnet (for tinkering read: swearing) most weekends.
Times change.
It just doesn't seem to be the culture to fix a car to keep if going any more for a large part of the population. And that's fair enough, but it ain't for me.
I'll do most jobs on car (side of the road mechanic here) but I draw the line at engine swaps in the rain and anything that involves squiring around on my back for a whole weekend these days - getting a bit old for that sort of thing.
OP: as others have said, YouTube is EXCELLENT for learning how to twirl the spanners... I look at videos all the time and I've been working on/restoring cars for 25 years plus. Best way to learn will always be to have a go your self though. Start with little jobs and work your way up. Maybe ask on your local facebook group page is anyone can help in exchange for beer tokens?
MBE1991 said:
Hi All
I've loved cars since I was young and have read car magazines/dragged my dad to test drives since I can remember. My passion runs deep, but other than a basic understanding of how engines work, I would have no idea where to start if I were to tinker on my car - I think it would probably take me a day to youtube how to change an oil filter...
A lot of reader's cars threads start with an average family man buying a vehicle, followed by pages and pages of detailed pics of how everything on the vehicle is changed, repaired, upgraded, etc all by the owner themselves. Surely not every petrolhead on this forum went through years of car mechanic education and apprenticeships.
My question is thus 2 fold - how did members on the forum learn to tinker on their cars, and if I wanted to learn from scratch, what would be the best way to go about it - im open to anything (buy a clunker and do one job at a time, online/in person courses, youtube vids, etc). Alternatively, if there is already a thread on this topic, please copy the linky.
Looking forward to some responses. Cheers
I suspect you are a different generation.I've loved cars since I was young and have read car magazines/dragged my dad to test drives since I can remember. My passion runs deep, but other than a basic understanding of how engines work, I would have no idea where to start if I were to tinker on my car - I think it would probably take me a day to youtube how to change an oil filter...
A lot of reader's cars threads start with an average family man buying a vehicle, followed by pages and pages of detailed pics of how everything on the vehicle is changed, repaired, upgraded, etc all by the owner themselves. Surely not every petrolhead on this forum went through years of car mechanic education and apprenticeships.
My question is thus 2 fold - how did members on the forum learn to tinker on their cars, and if I wanted to learn from scratch, what would be the best way to go about it - im open to anything (buy a clunker and do one job at a time, online/in person courses, youtube vids, etc). Alternatively, if there is already a thread on this topic, please copy the linky.
Looking forward to some responses. Cheers
When I was a kid in the 60's we grew up, modifying our bikes, then motorbike and cars. Stripping things down, seeing how they work, exploring and investigating a generally messing. We can put a nut on the end of our finger and stick it backwards onto a thread behind a dashboard. Not the sort of thing you do with an iPad!
If we needed a disc skimming or similar we would go to one of the engineers in the garages down the road and the old boy would sort it, whilst telling you all sorts of tips.
Peter911 said:
I suspect you are a different generation.
When I was a kid in the 60's we grew up, modifying our bikes, then motorbike and cars. Stripping things down, seeing how they work, exploring and investigating a generally messing. We can put a nut on the end of our finger and stick it backwards onto a thread behind a dashboard. Not the sort of thing you do with an iPad!
There is a great deal of sense in the bold bit - me and my friends were always messing about making something or other((1970s - only a couple of TV channels and frankly no money...) We would make stuff out of whatever we could find in the shed or dumped in the local woods and I think it all leads to a basic understanding of putting stuff together, and then mending it because it breaks. When I was a kid in the 60's we grew up, modifying our bikes, then motorbike and cars. Stripping things down, seeing how they work, exploring and investigating a generally messing. We can put a nut on the end of our finger and stick it backwards onto a thread behind a dashboard. Not the sort of thing you do with an iPad!
I do think the car servicing and repairs skills came out of running old cars on a very limited budget and popping to a main dealer for anything was not an option, much more likely was grovelling about at the local scrappers and trying to avoid the default oily Alsatian that wanted to eat you!
We didn't have much money when I was growing up so my dad would fix his own cars and neighbors cars to earn a bit of extra money.
I used to help him.
When I turned 14 or so my dad put a toolboox together for me with a basic array of (mostly imperial!) spanners and sockets. I still have and use those tools today.
When I learnt to drive I also didn't have much money. I would maintain my own cars (which were all bangers on their last legs!) because I couldn't afford to pay someone else to. By this time we had the internet and people would post how-to's on forums. If I needed a tool for a task, I'd buy it and so I built up a decent toolkit.
Over time this means you have a well-stocked toolbox and the skills/confidence to tackle most simple jobs and you learn some tricks to get you out of tough spots. A car in bits on sunday evening with work on monday is a powerful motivator.
These days money isn't so tight and my knees are not so forgiving but I still do a lot of work on my own cars, the problem is good garages. I know of a couple of good places who I trust to do work on my cars. The problem is that they are very busy and usually booked up for weeks in advance.
I used to help him.
When I turned 14 or so my dad put a toolboox together for me with a basic array of (mostly imperial!) spanners and sockets. I still have and use those tools today.
When I learnt to drive I also didn't have much money. I would maintain my own cars (which were all bangers on their last legs!) because I couldn't afford to pay someone else to. By this time we had the internet and people would post how-to's on forums. If I needed a tool for a task, I'd buy it and so I built up a decent toolkit.
Over time this means you have a well-stocked toolbox and the skills/confidence to tackle most simple jobs and you learn some tricks to get you out of tough spots. A car in bits on sunday evening with work on monday is a powerful motivator.
These days money isn't so tight and my knees are not so forgiving but I still do a lot of work on my own cars, the problem is good garages. I know of a couple of good places who I trust to do work on my cars. The problem is that they are very busy and usually booked up for weeks in advance.
As the rest have said, it’s about having a go.
I started on my old VW polo ‘98, needed new suspension, arms and other steering components after being silly at 17.
Insurance may have wrote it off, garage a few hundred to repair, I upgraded / renewed lots (both sides), for less than the garage quoted to replace just the single side components.
Brakes become an easy one (unless electronic needing dealer systems to reset / open)
Progressing to engine changes, diff rebuilds and so on.
Halfords advanced tool kit, lifetime warranty and managed most of the tasks.
Most recently, a hub / bearing replacement on a discovery, day before a trip away in it, with slim chance of a garage getting it in due to times.
Panic mode to strip it down (lots of rust and rounded bolts) await part next day and fit before needing to leave.
I started on my old VW polo ‘98, needed new suspension, arms and other steering components after being silly at 17.
Insurance may have wrote it off, garage a few hundred to repair, I upgraded / renewed lots (both sides), for less than the garage quoted to replace just the single side components.
Brakes become an easy one (unless electronic needing dealer systems to reset / open)
Progressing to engine changes, diff rebuilds and so on.
Halfords advanced tool kit, lifetime warranty and managed most of the tasks.
Most recently, a hub / bearing replacement on a discovery, day before a trip away in it, with slim chance of a garage getting it in due to times.
Panic mode to strip it down (lots of rust and rounded bolts) await part next day and fit before needing to leave.
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