Today was a mixed bag...
I started off the morning with a trip to NAPA to pick up the new seals that I ordered for the front wheel bearings ($7 each). NAPA would later prove to be my favorite auto parts retailer of the day. (I say this in spite of their insistence upon featuring Michael Waltrip in their unwatchable television commercials. Who directs those things, Bob Fosse? It's time to man-up and get someone like AJ Foyt as your spokesman; someone who will punch me in the throat if I even think about buying parts at another place. For god's sake, you're an auto parts store.)
Here's a shot of my parts runner parked in front of the NAPA store. They can use this in their new ads. Note that the car is still wearing its snow tires:
Anyway, with the new seals in hand, I returned home to clean and repack the wheel bearings, reinstall the hubs and rotors and finish the front brakes.
Cleaned, but not yet repacked:
Special installation tool for the new seal:
When I initially removed the front hubs, I counted 16.5 turns on each of the locking nuts, so that's what I used as a guide when I was putting everything back together. Smooth and tight.
At this point, the project came to a screeching halt.
As I mentioned earlier, I bought new front brake pads from Advance Auto. When I went to install them, I discovered that they were much smaller than the ones that I had removed. I compared them to the ones that I had removed from the rear of the car and they were clearly rear pads. I checked my receipt and and it said "Front". I cleaned up my tools and went back to the store. The clerk confirmed that the part number was wrong online and told me that the correct pads would cost me an additional $10. As a bonus, the right pads weren't in stock and he'd have to order them. So, in summary, the front brakes would cost me $10 more than I had expected, require three trips to Advance Auto to get the proper pads, and kill my progress for the rest of today and most of tomorrow morning.
Attention Advance Auto Customer Service Department: Angry letter forthcoming.
With my spirits sufficiently squashed, I decided to take the rest of the afternoon off.
NAPA: 1, Advance Auto: Zero