The Cash Hemorrhage That Is Biscayne

The failed ball joint took something else with it. Prolly a tie rod. There is a loud POP when I am steering.

But WHICH tie rod? They aren't expensive on their own, but there are four of them. Once a tie rod is replaced, you need an alignment, which is more money. I needed an alignment because of the ball joints, but now I need to either figure out which ball joint or just pay the alignment place. Considering how smoothly the ball joints went, I should pay someone who has the proper tools.

I have the tires to replace the ones which were ruined by my previous bad alignment. Interestingly, the Kumho Ecsta 712 in 275/40WR17 ($106 ea.) are not that much more expensive than the Goodyear Wingfoot in 225/70SR15 ($75 ea and discontinued) I used to buy. And the Kumho is a high performance wet/dry tire! The Goodyears were slighty better than average performance all season tires. So, if I was driving in snow, the Goodyears would have an advantage. Um, FLORIDA, doesn't get snow where I live, and rarely where I don't. And the Kumhos lasted two years (and 35k miles) of bad alignment, and the back tires are still in good shape. The Goodyears lasted about the same. Wonder if I can get three years on a set of tires with a good alignment. Tires on the Camaro lasted five, those were Goodyear Eagle ST in 225/70SR15, but the Eagle ST was discontinued. The Goodyear Eagle GT II in 225/70SR15 only lasted a year on my Caprice.

By way of comparison, the Goodyear Eagle RS-A in 235/70VR15 for The Lovely Harvey's Caprice run $123 per tire and that is the only tire in that size that is rated for what the car can do. We could get her the The Eagle GT IIs for $75 each, but the car would routinely outperform the tires and I refuse to compromise on her safety to save a whopping $176 spread over three years. How ironic is it that to save money on tires, we would almost have to change to 17" rim and buy racing tires? There are a lot more choices in the 255/50-17 sizes which are the stock Impala SS size, starting at $99 going to $193.

I don't want to spend any money on the car because of the way The Lovely Harvey treats me about fixing it. If it were her car, we would both give a resigned sigh, I'd say something like, "These parts wear out, we'll just fix it," and we'd fix it. With her radiator I was way more concerned that she had had to drive without coolant than I was about replacing the radiator. Driving without coolant would have meant a new motor! That's metric money. And when the frame on the blue truck was cracked and needed to be welded, I was more shocked that the design was bad enough that there were stress cracks on the frame than upset we had to fix it.

When it is my car, she acts like I have been conspiring to make the parts wear faster and that I sit around breaking things just to cause financial crisis'.

I will let everyone in on the secret. Shit like this breaking makes me hate my car. And when I hate my car, I don't want to drive it.

Because of the double tap from the sewer and the front end, I don't think I will be able to afford gas to go to the Daytona Spring Fling. I can take my pick of rides with someone else, but going to a car show without your car is like going to the prom without a date. As it stands, I will probibly have to dip into savings to pay for the tires and alignment.