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Where did you take such a class? A local community college? That actually sounds like a pretty fun idea. The engineer in me always loves learning how to take a

Where did you take such a class? A local community college? That actually sounds like a pretty fun idea. The engineer in me always loves learning how to take apart more things and put them back together.

Amorymeltzer 11y ago
The city/town runs a series of adult education classes, usually 10-12 weeks. There's a huge range of subjects (cooking, dancing, languages, painting, smithing) and while we're often too busy to do more, it's absolutely worth it.
sokoloff 11y ago
If you have a basic understanding of tools and fasteners, and even a $100 toolkit from Home Depot, start by changing the brake pads on your car. Youtube or Google search for a video and/or writeup of changing the brakes on your particular installation. Many common cars have a user-generated video of the procedure. I know that sounds insanely risky, but if you don't end up with parts left over, and everything seems like it went together correctly, the chances of screwing something up are very remote, and the chances of screwing it up in a way that won't be obvious in the first mile of driving are even more remote. Anyone in the Cambridge, MA area who has a very flexible schedule and wants me to put an eyeball on them while they do their brakes, I'm willing (but scheduling is often a bear). I would suggest this even before taking a class at the community college. I think you're going to be taking the class with peers who have spent at least 50 hours with a wrench in their hand growing up. You are going to learn more (or at least I would learn more) if you have some of the basics and have experience with the basic hand tools.
- lutorm 11y ago
  Coincidentally, I tried to do my own brakes when we lived in Somerville, but finding a place to do the work was a big problem. I ended up driving out to a friend on a farm out by Concord, but it's a huge hassle to not be able to do it in your own garage with all your tools at hand.
  - djrogers 11y ago
    A pair of jack stands and a floor jack are all you need to change your brakes anywhere with enough space to park your car...
    - sokoloff 11y ago
      Much of Cambridge and Somerville are parallel street parking only, which makes it impractical to change your brakes with street traffic passing by. (If the off-street parking that you have is required by zoning, as opposed to optional, you are prohibited by Zoning article 6.21 from doing non-emergency repairs in such a space. This applies mostly to condo and apartment developments, and not to most single-family residences.)
  - yason 11y ago
    Been doing all repairs on my cars all my life――if only practical and doable in a parking spot. Learned from repair manuals and mostly by disassembling and reassembling myself. Using outdoors space is a bit limited with fluids, when working underneath the car, and for longer repairs. But because I really like doing mechanical work and because I also want to avoid becoming a bitter old man who never got to do enough fun stuff beyond coding I bought a private garage with enough space for installing a car lift. I can then do multi-day repairs and enable myself to do practically anything I ever want on my cars. And yes, to maintain my motorcycle as well. Yeah, it's a bit of an investment but as a city-dweller I'm not able to enjoy the benefit of a regular garage in a detached house.
- ars 11y ago
  Seconded about starting with brakes. Unlike the rest of the car, brakes are designed from the beginning to be replaceable. This makes them much easier to work on, and as long as you don't forget to insert the pads it's pretty obvious if you did it right. Do one side at a time, so you have the other side to copy in case you are not sure at any step. You'll need to learn how to lift a car, never work under a jack, always jack stands, and always two stands. (More stands, or stands plus the jack "as backup" is actually LESS safe! Stands are safe because in order to tip over you have to raise the car against gravity - you don't want anything that reduces the full weight of the car against the stands.)
  - redblacktree 11y ago
    What if I want to jack up just a single corner? One stand is still safe, right?

Amorymeltzer 11y ago

The city/town runs a series of adult education classes, usually 10-12 weeks. There's a huge range of subjects (cooking, dancing, languages, painting, smithing) and while we're often too busy to do more, it's absolutely worth it.

sokoloff 11y ago

If you have a basic understanding of tools and fasteners, and even a $100 toolkit from Home Depot, start by changing the brake pads on your car. Youtube or Google search for a video and/or writeup of changing the brakes on your particular installation. Many common cars have a user-generated video of the procedure. I know that sounds insanely risky, but if you don't end up with parts left over, and everything seems like it went together correctly, the chances of screwing something up are very remote, and the chances of screwing it up in a way that won't be obvious in the first mile of driving are even more remote. Anyone in the Cambridge, MA area who has a very flexible schedule and wants me to put an eyeball on them while they do their brakes, I'm willing (but scheduling is often a bear). I would suggest this even before taking a class at the community college. I think you're going to be taking the class with peers who have spent at least 50 hours with a wrench in their hand growing up. You are going to learn more (or at least I would learn more) if you have some of the basics and have experience with the basic hand tools.

lutorm 11y ago
Coincidentally, I tried to do my own brakes when we lived in Somerville, but finding a place to do the work was a big problem. I ended up driving out to a friend on a farm out by Concord, but it's a huge hassle to not be able to do it in your own garage with all your tools at hand.
- djrogers 11y ago
  A pair of jack stands and a floor jack are all you need to change your brakes anywhere with enough space to park your car...
  - sokoloff 11y ago
    Much of Cambridge and Somerville are parallel street parking only, which makes it impractical to change your brakes with street traffic passing by. (If the off-street parking that you have is required by zoning, as opposed to optional, you are prohibited by Zoning article 6.21 from doing non-emergency repairs in such a space. This applies mostly to condo and apartment developments, and not to most single-family residences.)
- yason 11y ago
  Been doing all repairs on my cars all my life――if only practical and doable in a parking spot. Learned from repair manuals and mostly by disassembling and reassembling myself. Using outdoors space is a bit limited with fluids, when working underneath the car, and for longer repairs. But because I really like doing mechanical work and because I also want to avoid becoming a bitter old man who never got to do enough fun stuff beyond coding I bought a private garage with enough space for installing a car lift. I can then do multi-day repairs and enable myself to do practically anything I ever want on my cars. And yes, to maintain my motorcycle as well. Yeah, it's a bit of an investment but as a city-dweller I'm not able to enjoy the benefit of a regular garage in a detached house.
ars 11y ago
Seconded about starting with brakes. Unlike the rest of the car, brakes are designed from the beginning to be replaceable. This makes them much easier to work on, and as long as you don't forget to insert the pads it's pretty obvious if you did it right. Do one side at a time, so you have the other side to copy in case you are not sure at any step. You'll need to learn how to lift a car, never work under a jack, always jack stands, and always two stands. (More stands, or stands plus the jack "as backup" is actually LESS safe! Stands are safe because in order to tip over you have to raise the car against gravity - you don't want anything that reduces the full weight of the car against the stands.)
- redblacktree 11y ago
  What if I want to jack up just a single corner? One stand is still safe, right?