Reading (For Dummies)

Wheels

Decided to more car work today. It was a balmy 3C outside in Syracuse. Why not?

I Brake for Brake Pad Replacement

It was a pretty simple job, although I forgot to get all that fancy anti-squeal compound and grease and all the other crap that you're supposed to put on the brake shims. I may take them apart next week and do it all over again if I find the thing squeals too much.

I also finally discovered what is making the horrible "I'm a CV joint that's about to snap, only I'm not really" noise. There's a little link that goes from the control arm up to where the CV joint attaches to the wheels. I guess it's some kind of stabilizer to control how much the wheel cambers when the suspension gets compressed. Anyway, this little metal linker is inside a rubber boot, which has, in proper Subaru fashion, begun squirting all its grease everywhere. Guess I'll need to get a new one of whatever-it's-called, though it will probably $100 at the Subaru dealer :(. But hey, on the plus side my wheel won't fly off while I'm heading down the highway.

Next two weeks will suck. Four final exams, plus two research papers, plus two final projects, means a very busy Reid.

Why, oh why am I taking 12 grad credits again?