Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Of Brakes and Poowater

(Jill Posting here)

So yesterday I take my subaru, her name is Betty (because she's a soccer mom, but kind of fun), into the wheel and tire guys in Pullman, Washington. I like those guys and it gives me a reason to visit friends in Pullman.

The car has been squeaking since I got back from Iowa. Actually, on the trip back from Iowa.
The guy in Iowa did the front bearing and CV joint. Fine. He did not mention bad brakes and he's a nice guy so I think he would have. And he might as well have done it all at once.

It turns out the brakes were RUSTED! The brake guy here asked if the car had been parked, been in salt, or what. I'm thinking perhaps that poowater is a tad corrosive. I've driven the care over 3000 miles in a month. I can see a parked car getting rusty brakes, but not one from a dry climate that has been driven this much.

They were even squeaking when I wasn't using the brakes. It was super annoying. Then when I hit the brakes, the pitch went up. It sounded like the 5th little piggy. The one who went "wee wee wee" all the way home. And sometimes the sound would stop. This made me drive with my head out the window trying to figure out the exact circumstances of the noise.

The real miracle is that I have never had brakes done on that car. And I've driven it 110,000 miles. I think those are some jesus brakes! And I drive like Grampa...coast to a stop, stay off the brakes, downshift down big hills (the car has a special thing for that eventhough it's an automatic). God I'm old.

Anyway, to those living in the flood zone, perhaps you'd like to wash off your cars including the underside a bit more often than usual. I've never washed a car I own, but will stop and do the undercarriage soon because I don't want to buy another new muffler.

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