Sunday, March 7, 2010

To DIY or not to DIY? That is the question.

Some know my car was practically totaled when one of the calipers broke. The repairs were WAY out of our budget so I was without my car for 2 1/2 months. We just had the repairs done last week and now I have my little red beauty back. When I saw her I remembered all the cosmetic things I needed to repair as well and I felt sick again. The trunks latching mechanism broke so I couldn't open the trunk and I was riding on my full size spare since July. The rim was in the trunk...Ugggggghhh! The headliner sagged and flapped in the wind and now bits of the top clear coat of paint are chipping. OK, let's think. I'll crawl in through the back seats, take off the carpet covering in the trunk to manually open the latch. Then I'll duct-tape the broken piece together and have the guy at the used tire place find me a tire for that rim. I've done all the above. I've also started project B: Replace Headliner. The local upholstery place quoted me $275.00. YouTube said $35.00 and some time. I have stripped the old liner off the removable fiberglass headliner and hosed the rotten foam/glue off. It is now sitting in the driveway drying. Tomorrow Elaine and I will visit Joann Etc. to purchase the replacement foam-fabric and spray adhesive. All should go well up until I have to put the sunroof back together and all the ceiling handles, visors and dome lights. Crap! Wayland doesn't know about any of this yet...

3 comments:

bev said...

Time to sell and buy a cheap reliable car?????

Unknown said...

Yep. Except, I won't buy another car unless it seats 8 people and that's that. I'm hoping to make my car presentable enough to sell at a fair market value. That's not too much to ask.

kendall said...

hope it works.. it will definitely save you some money!
Once me and Tyler ROLLED our car into the dealership for a 'trade-in'. Wasn't one of the highlights in our marriage, but we got a couple hundred bucks for it.