So one of my buddies has a 16 year old son with a Pontiac G6 with over 300,000 miles. It needed brakes all around and my friend doesn't work on cars and the shop he goes to pretty much wouldn't let the car leave under its own power without doing the front brakes, rotors, pads, they were so bad. The rears were bad too, one of the calipers wouldn't remove from the disk but there was a bit of pad left so they let that go but advised him not to drive the car much with the rear brakes in that condition.
After talking to my buddy, We realized I could do the rear brakes and save them about 400 bucks. So I volunteered my time and he paid for the parts. My one caveat was that his son had to watch me do the first side and he was going to do the other side with me watching him. This young man was super motivated from the start, and dang if he didn't finish his side faster than I did mine. the only hangup we had was I had to help him get the parking brake cable off the old caliper and the pads installed into the caliper. I think this kid may be one of us. After we got done and fully tested the brake system he left and bedded the brakes in on the way home. Sometimes it's just a good day.
I keep looking for those kind of people to help but they are rare
great idea on having him do the other side!
My daughter's boyfriend said he wanted to learn about cars & offered to help me with the DSM the other night, so I showed him how to work the floor jack & let him help position the transfer case while I crawled under the car & bolted it in place. We ended up talking cars, motorcycles & finances for almost 3-hours afterward.
I think he now understands that financing $10k for 60-months on his Jeep Patriot a year ago wasn't a great choice at (then) 19-years old. Possibly more important, he now realizes trading out of it into something else is only going to dig himself deeper into debt, which will limit his future options regarding work, relocation, eventually moving out of his parent's place, etc.
Oh boy. Many years ago, 1989, I rolled my newly purchased 64 Spitfire into my then girlfriends dads garage to get it working right. About two weeks later of late nights after school and weekends I drove it home, we have been married for 27 years.
Aaron_King said:
Oh boy. Many years ago, 1989, I rolled my newly purchased 64 Spitfire into my then girlfriends dads garage to get it working right. About two weeks later of late nights after school and weekends I drove it home, we have been married for 27 years.
How did you get the old man to marry you?
We are childless by choice, not a choice I regret very often, but I do wish I could share some of the knowledge my Dad passed on to me about repairing cars and other stuff. I look for the opportunity to share, but they're rare. Good on you for taking the time and doing it right.
Its funny, I instituted a similar rule to prevent becoming friends and family's "budget mechanic". "I have the tools and a lift in an airconditioned workspace, I will tell/show YOU how to do it." Its funny, the requests instantly dried up. Turns out the extra money to have it done was worth more to them than getting their hands dirty.
I so look forward to my son getting a bit older. He's two now, but loves the toy nuts and bolts and focuses very well.
In reply to Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) :
Charm.
Not necessarily car related, but rather bicycles. My oldest son is a graduating senior, and one of his friends(also a senior) decided that he had watched enough youtube videos on adding a gasoline engine to a bicycle frame that he would buy a "kit" online, and do it. My son,a nd another friend were asked to help this kid out. Not any of them really know much about engines, or working on things, but my son messed around with me enough in the garage on the project Montero that he knows a few things.
3 days into working on this kit my son called me and asked if I could come over to help them. Now I'm no engineer or anything, but I was able to walk them through a few things, over a couple of evenings, and was dubbed "magic dad" by my son, and his friends. The bike still isn't done, but the engine runs, and such, but they're having chain issues.
One of the other kids asked if when he gets his kit(a two-stroke), if they could work on it at our house with my help. I have no problem with that. Of course I wish it was helping work on an old car, as that is what I'm comfortable with but anything is better than nothing. Just wish I knew more than I do. I'll take any time I can with teenagers before I'm dubbed lame. For the record, I'm not in fact magic, and actually quite the opposite, but don't tell them.
ultraclyde (Forum Supporter) said:
We are childless by choice, not a choice I regret very often, but I do wish I could share some of the knowledge my Dad passed on to me about repairing cars and other stuff. I look for the opportunity to share, but they're rare. Good on you for taking the time and doing it right.
It's rare for me as well, as I had two daughters and my eldest wanted nothing more to do with cars than to drive them and listen to music in them. She even refused to learn to drive a manual transmission while in the middle of the third lesson, on the road. My youngest has expressed great interest in mechanical things and tools and my M5 and my 1978 chevy pickup so there is still hope.
A little backstory. I'm in my second marriage (this one is gonna stick) and with it came two kids. I'm in their life more than their dad, so I consider them mine. They're BoostKid #1 and #4.
BoostKid #1 is almost 13 and is an old soul. He wants me to grown so bad he can't stand it. He told me once I was lucky that I got to go to work, and that he didn't want to go to school anymore. A hundred years ago, he'd have been the kid that quit school to work at the mill.
He loves to work on the cars, his four wheeler, anything. He helped me build some shutters and I taught him how to read a tape measure. Today it was nearly 90, and he mowed the yard, and ran the string trimmer while I was sweating my gonads off at work. It takes me about two hours, and nobody asked him to do it.
I've done some cool things in my day, but raising these kids is the best.
I'm hoping to find an old grey beard who can show me how to tune a Holley carb.
Been working a bit with my daughter’s boyfriend on keeping his 300k mile Camry on the road in safe order for cheap. I have no son (and my daughter is not at all into cars), his dad is super talented electronically but not mechanically, but the boyfriend seems to enjoy the mechanical tinkering. So, guess I have to say it is fun doing this stuff with him!
I love doing brake jobs for people (the vast majority go smoothly) -- it's a great teaching task, and there is often much money to be saved. Everyone I've ever done it with has really felt a sense of accomplishment. I always issue a caveat, though, that the job may escalate depending on the condition of the calipers, and how much rust may be present :)
I'm fortunate that both kids like to hang out in the garage. Colin is 9 now and always looking to help. Abby will be 6 in a month and she's onboard with learning VW's with me because she wants to get the sand rail running.
84FSP
UltraDork
6/10/20 6:55 a.m.
Apexcarver said:
Its funny, I instituted a similar rule to prevent becoming friends and family's "budget mechanic". "I have the tools and a lift in an airconditioned workspace, I will tell/show YOU how to do it." Its funny, the requests instantly dried up. Turns out the extra money to have it done was worth more to them than getting their hands dirty.
I so look forward to my son getting a bit older. He's two now, but loves the toy nuts and bolts and focuses very well.
I did the same thing with my peeps. I still get the occasional one where folks really want to understand and do it themselves.
My son is getting to the right age and spending time there with me now. He has me sorting out his friends bikes and scooters which is kind of fun.
I was luck enough to have a bunch of older mechanics teach me when younger. I thought they were gods.
