Budget Car Repair Ideas
There are a lot of places online that offer "how to's" on basic auto repair. If you aren't familiar with doing your own auto repair, you may talk to other people in the parts store, the local garages, at car shows, cruise nights, swap meets, etc.
Well Known Auto Stores: Almost every single one of the major players in the auto parts industry has a website from which shoppers can order parts. A lot of these stores also have the regular "brick and mortar" stores and will let you return internet-ordered parts to those stores (in the event that the part that got delivered to you was not what you ordered or turned out to be the wrong part). Some of the major "brick and mortar" auto body parts stores that will also let you order your car parts online are Napa, Carquest, Auto Zone, Pep Boys, Advance Auto Parts and Schucks Auto (known in some areas as CSK Auto).
Go online to an inexpensive or wholesale car parts site by typing "cheap car parts" or "wholesale car parts" into the search line of your browser. Many of these places have a minimum order of only a couple hundred dollars (or sometimes even less!) So you shouldn't have any problem filling the order. Sometimes, these minimum order quantities mean you also get free shipping and warranties on the parts!
auto parts store Auto parts sales is one of the largest industries in the world. Makes sense since almost everyone in the world has an automobile except maybe in underdeveloped countries. Some auto parts wear out rather quickly such as oil filters. Some last a little longer like brake shoes and pads. And then you have parts that thank goodness don't wear out very often at all like transmissions or cars would be impossible to maintain cost wise.
Some salvage yards send customers to look for their own parts and some of them can tell you exactly what they have in stock. If you go to a yard that requires you to find your own replacement parts take along a friend, a tape measure, and a cell phone. There are a lot of junk cars in the big lots and you are going to need to make sure you do not get lost or injured while you are looking through them all. Since you will not know the system the business uses to store these vehicles it will be easy for you to get confused and miss the ones that might contain what you need.
Ask the seller whether there is a warranty and for how long the warranty applies to your car parts. Also ask whether there are any conditions on the warranty. One such condition may be that they be installed by a licensed mechanic.
Changing the front brake pads require setting of your parking brake, and block the rear tires so your vehicle will not move. Loosen the lug nuts. Using a jack, raise your vehicle and place it securely on jack stands. Then, remove the lug nuts and remove the wheel.
Know what you need to get the part off and take those tools. Take some extra tools, too, so you can take off anything that has to come off to get to your part. You just never know. You can carry your tool box or bag around with you. They don't care.
