I’m far from a car connoisseur, but I have a genuine fondness for them. Peter Parker usually says “With great power comes great responsibility”. This rings true with cars 100%. Owning a car requires responsibility, attention to detail, and constant upkeep. These attributes all come at a price. Whether steep or cheap, you will spend $$$ to save $$$ with vehicles. That statement was never more prevalent in my life than yesterday.

I hit the Acura dealership, where I get all my service done, to fix a “minor” problem with Felicia(my car). She shook when I hit 80+ miles. That eventually dropped to 30+ miles and became unbearable. Anyone who knows me knows that I keep my car in excellent condition(save a dent or 2 here which I can live with for now). So when this occurred, I was taken back. I’m no mechanic, so I used my resources and hit the net/peoples who know about cars. The vibration while driving results from either alignment, tire balancing, or bad tires in general. I figured I needed to stop driving on the tires and make my way for repairs. I had a bunch of other cosmetic/little annoying things wrong that built up over time and figured to kill multiple birds with one stone.

I get to the dealership and give them the laundry list of things I required, including the normal service when your “Maintenance Required” light turns on. The “service specialist”(Acura is sooo extra) who helped me immensely, told me they would bring the car in and check it to see if the normal maintenance was necessary and we’d take it from there. I forgot that in November 06 Acura suggested I get a fuel emissions cleaning and change my air filters. For those who think that service is bullshit, know that my AC’s wind output seemed to be real low, even on the highest level. Dirty air filters prevent the AC(and heater) from working properly. Fuel Emissions cleaning assist in better gas management. You burn gas better which gets you more miles per gallon. I need EVERY drop extra I can get, so this became priority over the normal service(replacing all fluids in the car + tire balancing and alignment, etc etc). She calls me up an hour later and gives me the news. The fluids do need changing, along with the feul emissions and air filter. The tires were shot so I would need new tires before performing the balance/alignment check. All my parts would be ordered and installed at a later date if it wasn’t in stock. All electrical problems would be corrected. Not only that my people, my TIMING BELT was almost 10K behind in replacement. Damn Gina… The timing belt?! Anyone who knows cars knows that bad boy means money. Money I didn’t feel like spending. SMH…

So faced with this dilemma, I chose to do the following:

1) Get the timing belt replaced. This became priority #1, because a new timing belt with the Honda/Acura engine makes it even stronger, and ensures that I won’t have to deal with a popped belt which would means thousands of dollars in repairs down the line.

2)Get the Fuel Emissions and Air filter work done. Better miles per gallon and air flowing through the car trump replacement of “dirty fluids”. Especially since I replaced the fluids about 8 months ago and that’s lowest priority now.

3) Get an oil change. It needs to be performed every 3 months anyway, and that’s one of the most important fluids in the car. it was also recommended by my specialist(still cracking up at that!

4) Top-off all remaining fluids in the car. Might as well be running with full brake fluid, power steering fluid, etc etc(free of charge)

5)Replace the windshield wipers replaced and all other miscellaneous parts That rain over the holiday weekend combined with my shot wipers and tires made my vehicle become a death trap early! lol. That stuff wasn’t even a question. Plus I had to replace trim, ashtrays, new navigational disk, etc. Nothing serious or expensive.

6)Get tires NEVER get tires from a dealership. There prices are a travesty and make no sense, even if you got $$$ like that. I have a reliable tire shop around my way, and copped tires at a price about 80% cheaper including installation then what they offered. You should never go cheap when it comes to tires, but be smart about it. A reliable tire spot where you get used tires or like new can hold you until you cop new ones. Eventually you MUST cop new tires though just to avoid issues. I suggest always looking for new tire deals, because they can break pockets easily.

All of this cost a pretty penny. Eff that the penny was a DIME!! With the economy, and gas prices which cause me to weep at the gas station, it’s difficult to drop $$$ on repairs when I could cop some fresh kixs, HDTVs, video games, clothes, travel, etc. As a car owner, you have a responsibility to yourself, and anyone who rides in your car to be safe first. At times, we have a hood mentality and desire to throw Ds, a hot system, TVs in the headrest, and other cool exterior items on our car, and save repairs until later. That’s cool, but make sure you have the actual working parts of the car in check first. I’ve seen a lot of people catch bad ones on the highway, driving, or whatever off the strength of poor car upkeep. Paying the money now means saving the money later on repairs and at times, eventual junking of the car because you can’t afford to fix it. Proactivity with your V’s will make your pockets and your car happy. Sleeping on the potential damage that can happen to your cars can cause your dream to turn into a nightmare. Don’t believe me? Take a look at my tire and how close I came to catchin a SERIOUS loss!