- Oh my God!
Hello again, everyone, I'm Sam.
Today, we are going to see
if it's worth it or not
to take your car to a shop?
How often do you hear someone say
that their car is stuck in the shop
or they need to take it to a shop,
but they just don't have the money
to get that work done just yet?
Also, how many times have you heard a weird noise
and thought, "You should really get it
to a shop and get it checked out."
But you just don't want to take it in?
Maybe you don't wanna take it in
because you're scared of how much it will cost
or maybe you don't wanna take it in
because you know that they're gonna find
like 20 other things that are wrong with your car,
and then you're gonna have to get figured out.
Then after you hear about those 20 things
that are wrong with your car, anxiety starts stacking,
because you're sitting in the waiting area
with the choice of fixing all those things
like it should be done
or not fixing them
and just letting that clicking ball joint go "Yolo."
And just keep on keeping on.
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Every time you do that,
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Okay.
So let's talk about working on your car yourself a bit.
This can seem like a very scary thing,
if you've never done it before.
Cars seem like they're really complicated
and super intricate machines
that are hard to work on.
Not in reality, is that actually how it works.
Cars, all share some common systems
and ways to get things done.
Your Mustang has some similarities to my 240,
believe it or not,
heck even a front wheel drive Civic,
has some things in common with my 240.
So if you can work on one,
you can kind of figure out how to work on the other.
Personally, I had no clue how to work on cars before.
This was a jack up from the oil pan.
I didn't even know how to take a wheel off
and change it, at one point.
Everyone starts from somewhere,
and that somewhere is not knowing anything.
But luckily, there are a ton of resources out there
to get you going,
and get you started wrenching on your own car.
I wanted to start modifying cars more and more.
Frankly, I just didn't have the money to send it to someone
have them do the work.
So I needed to figure out how to do it myself.
That's how I found out how helpful YouTube can be,
especially if you have a common car.
All of you guys out there,
who uploaded a how to on something
like changing a serpentine belt
to even the brakes,
you're the real MVPs of YouTube.
Those videos are amazing.
Amount of good high quality how-tos' out there,
are absolutely staggering.
All right. So when we get started here
let's talk about time a little bit.
First thing we're gonna just talk about.
If you've never changed the brake pads
and rotors in your car before,
it's going to take a lot longer
the first time you do it,
compared to the third time that you do it.
You need to take in account,
that if you're weighing whether or not
to take a car to shop,
it might suck to have your car to shop for a day or two,
but it might take you longer than that time
to do it yourself.
Because you've just frankly,
never done before,
you don't know what you're getting into.
Not the ideal way to do this.
That's not what we want.
Boy.
Your time is also valuable.
So remember that, when the time you're working in your car
can't be used for other stuff.
If you go into a reputable shop
and they have access to parts
or let you bring your own,
they should be able to knock most things out
in a reasonable amount of time,
usually faster than you can,
if you've never done that sort of thing before.
Okay. So let's say you have the time to do it
and you kind of know how to do it.
You're gonna need some tools to get the job done.
I need tools now.
Preferably you gotta get the right tools.
Heck, how am I supposed to get that out?
This is done.
I'll be honest, I still abuse tools.
I'll admit that I've used a flathead screwdriver,
as a pry bar or a chisel,
within the last week.
I did it when I was working my 240.
Don't do that.
You shouldn't do that.
Be nice to your tools.
Tools also, are not cheap.
So let's make that clear.
Even if you go to Harbor Freight
and buy the cheapest versions of whatever you need,
it still won't be cheap to just do the job
that you need to do.
You gotta remember that.
But once you have the tools,
you can use them over and over,
which helps justify their cost over time.
The more you use them, kinda less that cost is.
I have been using the same craftsman socket set
since I was 17, that my dad got me.
I'm like a hundred years old. So it's super reliable.
The only exception here
is for some of those weird specific tools
that you might only use once.
Example of that, is an exhaust hang
or removal tool that I use really occasionally.
But it's super helpful when I do use it.
All right.
So let's say you have the time,
you kind of know what you're doing,
and you have the tools to get the job done.
Now we have to take in account,
how complex this work is going to be.
And if it's going be possible
to negatively affect your car
in a really bad way,
basically, we just gotta know
if you have the possibly to fuck your shit up or not.
Doing a job like changing your cat-back exhaust,
is going to be a lot easier
than putting a turbo kit on your naturally aspirated motor.
If you screw up the exhaust install,
your car will most likely just sound like crap.
But if you screw up that turbo kit install,
you could blow your whole motor up.
It would be amazing,
but not for you.
It'd be funny for us to watch.
If you do the work yourself,
then the liability is really just on you.
If you have a shop do the work,
there's usually amount of responsibility
that the shop has,
and they're gonna do it right,
and probably not blow up your car,
or at least, try really hard not to.
As the complexity of a job goes up,
so does the amount of variables that can go wrong
or things you'll have to replace/mod
to get through the work.
Sometimes you'll never anticipate
the amount of broken or worn out parts
you'll have to replace,
until you actually tear into something a bit more complex.
As you're tearing through stuff,
you'll realize bushings are worn out.
You need to replace the bolts,
blah, blah, blah.
It adds up.
Now let's talk about cost.
Doing things yourself can save you some money,
but can also end up costing you
far more than you thought it would.
One reason for this,
would be when you start working on something
and you over tucked a bolt,
that bolt snaps,
and then you need to buy a whole new part.
I've been there.
It sucks.
When you're doing stuff for the first time,
you're screwed up, and you have to buy it.
You learn from it,
but it's an expensive mistake.
A shop is going to charge you an hourly rate
and also, usually a pretty decent markup.
And the parts sometimes,
even a fee, if you can supply your own parts.
The hours will stack up and it'll get expensive,
the longer it takes to do something.
They're in the business of making money.
So you better bet, they'll try to make some money.
So is it worth it to bring your car to a shop?
My answer here is gonna be a little bit wishy washy.
I'm gonna say, it can be worth bringing your car to a shop.
There's a lot of variables
that are at play here,
that we've kind of gone through.
So let me break my answer down a little bit.
If you don't have experience doing something to your car,
and messing it up will have some majorly adverse effects,
then I'd recommend taking it to a shop.
Oh! Yeah.
Also, if you need something
really absolutely specifically dialed in
and you don't have the means to do that yourself,
you should bring it to a shop.
An example of this would be an alignment.
When you gotta get a certain alignment spec dialed in,
and those alignment racks machines are really expensive,
and most of us don't have access to those,
that's something that's great to bring your car to a shop to
'cause they have access to those sort of things
that you and I don't.
What I do want to leave you guys with though,
is, you should absolutely learn
how to work on your car yourself,
and invest in the tools and time to help you in do so.
The internet is an amazing resource
and you'll learn a set of skills
that will save you thousands and thousands of dollars
over the long run.
You'll also meet some people
through that journey of learning how to work on your car,
that can become really good friends,
and then you'll have something in common.
You can help each other out
when you're working on your cars.
You'll be amazed at how your set of skills will progress
in a different sort of work,
you'll be comfortable taking on
as those skills progress over time.
Boy.