car woes

Anyone know any good, trustworthy mechanics?

Basically, I need a second opinion. While the Saturn guys had my car up in the air to do the brakes, they said they found that the quill bearing is leaking (not enough to leave anything on the ground) and that eventually my clutch will need to be replaced.... which will cost over $1000 to do (because they need to replace the quill bearing at the same time), and will be an all day or almost two day event.

?!?! I know the clutch is getting a bit squishy, but geeze. Oh, and they can't guess how long the car can go before absolutely needing it to be replaced. I did a little searching on the ol' in-tar-net and found this, which appears to be a similar situation that I now find myself in (except my car doesn't go through oil like there's no tomorrow). The "expert" there says don't let them do it. I won't, not until I get a second opinion, and if the giver of that second opinion can do it for a hell of a lot less, then they can have at it.

As for the bit about my brakes... they say the pads are at 80-85%, so those don't need to be replaced.. They say that they've not been worn unevenly. They tried to say they could resurface the rotors again (it's cheaper than replacing them by about $70), but since this set has warped for a second time in less than a year, I'd rather have them replaced.

Then, if they warp again, I guess I'll be taking the car to somewhere other than the dealership to find out why it keeps happening since my driving habits have not changed. I know what causes warping, heating of the rotors, but Saturn claims that the only things that could lead to that are quick stops or extended braking, neither of which I do on a regular basis (once in a while maybe, but certainly not every day). Ever the skeptic, Josh feels that there have to be other things that could lead up to that, and I'm beginning to agree. The question is, what?

At any rate, if the clutch really does need to be replaced, I hope it can hold out for about six months.. by then we may be able to just buy me a new car and the clutch will be someone else's problem (i.e. the dealership 'cause we'll likely just trade it in, although I'm not sure how much we'll get out of an SL1 that will, at that point, probably have almost 150K miles on it...)

brake check!

In about an hour, my car will be sitting at the dealership waiting to get its brakes & rotors replaced.

It's been needing to be done for about a month now, but I've been trying to put it off because of the cost, and other things that were costly that were being done first (two weeks ago: windshield for 2002 Saturn VUE = $400, because we haven't gotten glass insurance on either of our cars yet; one week ago: vet appointment for the two cats = $180, for their rabies, feline distemper, and feline leukemia shots). Now it is my car's turn for its brakes.

How much is that again?

Hmm. I think Amazon needs to check their typing....
X-2: X-Men United. $1,906.56? That's a little much, no?

like fingernails on a chalkboard..

Certain sounds, noises, or voices sometimes really grate on my nerves. Sometimes it gets so bad I want to dig out my eardrums with a stake.

At the moment, the voice grating on my nerves is a customer that one of my colleagues has on his phone over the speakerphone.... a man with an Indian accent (east Indian). Oh, I don't usually mind an Apu-like accent, as long as it isn't MONOTONE! It's driving me batty just having to listen to this guy speak. I'm half tempted to crank up my speakers just to drown him out. If I knew I wouldn't get in trouble for it, I'd bring in a pair of headphones and plug those into my speakers, I'd much rather listen to music than the conversation that is going on about 15 feet away from me. *shudder*

There are other sounds that get to me like that... when people click the retractable pens over and over again... playing 'drums' on ones desk... having to listen to a cubicle neighbor spit into his trashcan (because he does chewing tobacco)... listening to tobacco chewers spit into cups.... the list could go on and on. To me, these kinds of sounds are like fingernails on a chalkboard.

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