Brake Dust

On Saturday I went and saw Tony & Em who are 'expecting' their first child in about 4 months. It was great to see them and Emily is just starting to have the mommy tummy. When I pulled in and parked I wasn't sure which garage was theirs but I figured we'd be out working on the cars in no time, no foul. But as I got inside there was lots of catching up and general chit-chat for oh maybe a half hour. Finally Tony and I got to business and went outside to find a grumpy old bag with her garage open, cell in hand and my car sitting in front of her bay. Whoops, I start to trot on over and explain myself. "I'm so sorry, I thought I had parked in front of Tony's garage." She would have none of it and wanted to basically mow my car over. I'm trying to get out to do my errands! If that truck wasn't there I'd have backed into your car and put you over there. (yea, as if destruction of property wouldn't have landed you in court). Tony reels back and says he'll put his name on his garage. OMG we were laughing so much we hardly could get to the real task at hand, working on the cars.

When she finally returned an hour later and opened the trunk filling her little old lady white wire wheeled basket for groceries I asked if her day was getting any better? I figured hey that's just on the edge of being nice and trying to lighten the mood. She scoured off and mumbled she ought to get me a book on manners. Maybe next time she threatens someone or their porperty she'll be getting a restraining order!

I told Tony to off me if I ever get like that. He liked it and half-wished I had said it in front of her. Can you believe she didn't even know who Tony was and they've been neighbors for 4 years. Let me tell you, I'm sure those have been a few good years without knowing the beast. Tony is sure the husband has been soured by this beast, having run into him a few times in the past- now he knows where the source is!

Now, back to the brakes.. Tony and I played shop mechanic for most of the day doing Em's brakes and taking the car for a test ride before turning it over to mom & unborn. Car worked great, the pedal was a little higher off the floor and stopping was good. Ok, my car's turn. We choose Tony's method of removing the entire caliper and fiddle with getting the brakes backed into the spring harness. That was a fiasco! Then one of his cooler neighbors comes out to his Saab 93 (WRX with differnet trim). He's just done his brakes and gives us the low-down on all the little things; the piston rubber boot, watch for a sticky bolt (grease it if it won't move, and the big one- how to not remove the entire caliper when doing a brake job. I should have printed out the wrx forum instructions to begin with! I knew there was a clever way to just lift up half the caliper and slide the brakes in from the facing sides. It was so much easier than using the bench grinder and finding just the right angle to back the pads into the housing!

Boo to old hags and hooray for mid/late 20's with Subaru cars!