It is perhaps deferred maintenance, but I had to put $2000 into my car (2013 Subaru Impreza). At this point that may just be around the value of the car itself. Brakes, suspension, and oil change. I’ve been wanting to get a new car, but that amount of money is going to make me want to keep this for at least another year to make it worth it. But I was somewhat forced into it by loss of most braking power.
The brakes on this car have been a problem kinda all along. They sometimes would get sticky and drag, causing reduced power, hot wheels, and quick to wear pads. I had replaced the front calipers at one point, which improved them greatly, but didn’t do the rears because they don’t do as much of the braking. Eventually, the calipers got so sticky that sometimes the rear brakes weren’t making contact at all, and the rotors would rust up. I would go in, clean the slides and compress the piston to get them working again.
For a time, they had gotten so stuck that I couldn’t fix them, they stopped working for a while, and the rotors got really rusty. I still had plenty of stopping power though since the front does most of it. One day, I was driving toward an intersection. I heard a siren but couldn’t see it or tell from which direction. Suddenly, a fire SUV came flying toward the intersection from the side, and I had to slam on the brakes, as did it, seemingly, and sat there a moment before going on. When I went on, I noticed a scraping noise when braking. Apparently, this incident had pushed the piston out to make the brakes work on at least one of the rears again, and they were dragging on the rust.
I figured that was a plus for the time being. There was no saving the rotors, and the pads would need replacing if replacing the rotors anyway, so I might as well use them until they wore out before replacing, and get the extra stopping power in the meantime. The rotors did get cleaner but very slowly. The left never got very far, so I assume that one froze up out again, but the right got decent though still bumpy over time. Eventually, the scraping became more continuous. I started noticing metal flakes on the right wheel and the rotor was getting chewed up. I kept going to get through the holidays so I could take it to a place when things were less hectic and I had decided where to take it.
But Saturday, sometime after hitting a big pothole, my pedal started going to the floor and my braking power was quite limited. I limped home since it was close, rather than going to my parents’ as planned. There I tried looking for a leak, as I’ve dealt with blown brake lines on other cars. I stepped on the pedal many times, but couldn’t see any leaks or other signs in the dark of night.
I waited until the light of next day, when I found the right caliper fully expanded, with the piston pushed out and leaking fluid from the boot. One of the pads had disappeared completely, which I didn’t think was possible. There was fluid everywhere. I called my dad, then worked on cleaning that up while he came over with his large C-clamp. After much fighting with it, we finally got the piston compressed back in. I put in more fluid and put in some old pads that were still decent. The seal held, but the pedal was still going to the floor. Most likely there was a lot of air in the line from letting so much fluid out.
The lines would have to be bled, which I find a pain, especially out in the cold. And I’m getting old. Plus the rotor on that side was very bad, the slides were definitely bad, and the calipers probably needed replaced long term. I had okay stopping power now, but it took a lot of motion and force to press all the way in, which certainly couldn’t be done long term and worried me just for driving it to the shop. I decided I ought to get the lines bled and calipers replaced professionally.
My dad didn’t need his car most of the time, so he let me borrow it for much of the several days it took to get my car going. He also drove me to the shop twice. Thanks to him and his being retired. I filled up his tank much further than it had been in repayment.
The next day, when shops were open, I spent a lot of time trying to decide where to take it. It’s hard to trust places. I looked at reviews which really hammered the closest place, but every place had at least some bad ones. Some places, like the dealer, can be very expensive. I almost decided to just do a quick brake bleed myself to see if I could get it a little less spongy. But when I went out and saw that more metal rotor flakes seemed to have appeared on the wheel from the short test drive I did, it seemed to suggest bleeding wouldn’t help for long anyway.
I finally settled on Tire Source in Fairlawn. I used them for tires several times and generally trusted them, and they were the ones who noted the rear caliper issues when I had gotten new tires last. I called them up and asked for a quote for rear calipers, pads, and rotors. $1100. Ouch. I asked what it would be without the pads and rotors, since I could easily do those myself. That knocked off $400 some. But he then asked about what happened and told me if there was brake fluid all over the pads he would have to replace them. I was put off by the amount, especially if they wanted to do other stuff, but agreed and scheduled an appointment for that and an oil change.
The appointment was for Wednesday, but with my parents’ schedule, it was easiest to drop it off Tuesday, mid day. I went in to work with my dad’s car. About an hour before end of day, I got a call from the shop. The guy said the right sway bar and ball joint were pretty bad, and might last a bit, but were getting close to failing. He said it’d be another $700 for that work. There were a few other minor issues too, but I think he sensed the overall cost was getting high and said those weren’t that important, didn’t even quote them. I was reluctant to put this much money in and was stalling, thinking about it. I don’t have a lot of experience doing that stuff, and if I was going to keep using this car for more than just to find a new one, it seemed like I would have to bite the bullet and go for it. So I did.
He said that there was a slight possibility of it finishing by end of day, but it didn’t. I stayed over my parents in case it was finished early the next day. I missed the phone call, but a voicemail appeared on my phone that morning. When my dad got back from his morning tasks, we went up to pick up my car.
I paid out $2000 from my debit card, since I wasn’t sure if my credit card would have that much cap space. I had luckily transferred enough money to my checking account, in anticipation, early enough for it to be there. Without much fanfare, they gave me my key, receipt, and write up, and I went out to my car. I took a quick look at the work. Nice, painted calipers and rotors, which hopefully will take a long time to rust. I couldn’t see the suspension stuff. When I headed for home, my brakes worked perfectly, with no scraping noise at all. Very nice. Hopefully it stays that way.
I do still have to put more money in soon, but it should be far less. My exhaust is broken and loud after I backed through a snow plow snow berm in December. I should be able to get that welded at Market Muffler for $70-80. I’ve done that twice before now, about every two years. All Star in Cleveland is my favorite place, and I’ve never had problems with their welds, but they’re too far and too much of a hassle for me now coming from Akron.
I was looking at new cars through all of this. Getting AWD again, an EV, and some of the nicer features I want, plus green paint which I think I deserve with spending that much money, the price goes up quickly for brand new. The monthly payment estimates some of these sites give was going above $500 for many of these even for 72 months and 0% APR deals. So the money I put into my Impreza was several months of a car payment. If I look at it like that and it can last six months to a year, I guess I can justify it. So, hopefully it lasts long enough to be worth it.