a wheel bad week

sometimes it sucks to be me…

…sometimes it don’t.

this is one of those times it kinda does.

every time i save money for the wedding or honeymoon something happens and it has to go to other shit. on the upside, when i’ve needed money it’s been there. on the downside, i need the money to stay put long enough for me to buy NOLA plane tickets or set it aside for the hotel suites for the wedding and instead…well…it just ain’t happening.

and that sucks.

so about a month ago i noticed my car was rolling a bit rough, so i took it in for an alignment. i didn’t know if it NEEDED an alignment, but i knew the place i was taking it would let me know about any other wheel or suspension issues if they found any…

…and boy howdy, did they find any.

(did anybody think of this logo when they read that?)

so, they called me. i hate that call when your car is in the shop…that “yeah, you THOUGHT it was just this, but really it’s…” call. it’s part of why i do most of the work myself. but at least they gave me direction. on the call, there was good news and bad news. the good news? i wasn’t paying for an alignment. the bad news? it was because i had three bad tires, one of which showed threads, four bent rims, my left tie rod “had play” (not meant that it could pick up girls, apparently) and my steering boot was ripped on that side, too.

as of two fridays ago i had all handled except the wheels. all four tires were good ($100), the tie rod and boot had been replaced ($130), and i’d even gotten it aligned ($90). now it was time to to the wheels and all would be good…i was told by my tire place that the wheels i wanted were $500, plus tax, and that we’d then have to pay for mount and balance to the tune of $40, so all in $580.

okay, fine.

what’s sad is looking at this, even though it all needed to be done, that was the wedding budget as of this point.

the wheel thing got fucked when i went in and all of a sudden it was not $540, but $720…PLUS the mount and balance. i just casually asked, “if i bring in my own wheels from elsewhere what’s the mount cost” and i was told $60.

sounded fair.

i found the wheels online for $475 delivered, so even after the $60 upticked install charge AND the day delay to get a $60 “mount kit” to put the wheels on (the factory lugs didn’t fit) i was only $15 over budget. all was well as of last friday when i rolled into the shop…

…then i went to leave it.

at sixty-five miles an hour my car developed quite the bout of epilepsy. not cool. not fun. kind of panic-inducing, to be honest. i went back the next day to have the wheel balance checked, and they checked one tire, but when putting it back on noticed tie-rod play, now on the passenger side. as it was labor day weekend i didn’t know how easy parts would be to come by, but i was able to get them by sunday ($95) and crawled up under the car to change it only to discover the other steering boot had ripped and now would have to be replaced ($50). delayed me a day, but it was done wednesday and i took it out for a road test…and the seizures continued.

fuck my life.

so i gave it up to the pros as i already had an “alignment touch up” scheduled as you do when a tie rod is replaced…so i had them road test it. they found a faulty control arm ($250) and recommended i get a real alignment ($50) so as of this writing i’ve done the latter and the former has been ordered and has an install appointment for wednesday (since the part is scheduled to arrive on tuesday).

so now, with around sixty days to the wedding i’ve got to get some money in that DOESN’T become the “M” in “BMW”.

and if that appointment wednesday doesn’t settle this up once and for all i might lose my shit. seriously.