He told me to have the hole patched in my exhaust. I went to the place that installed my muffler, and had them do it. He told me I could scrape the tinting off the window with a razor blade, so I did, and it worked just fine. I could pay $7 them to change that turn signal, but instead I went to an auto parts store and bought the light bulb for $1.90 and changed it myself. Congratulations, I passed inspection.

The real downer is that he gave me a warning on my brakes for being almost worn-through, and my front struts, for being bad (as well as leaking oil, but I've done that for years). So, being the good little boy, I decided I could look into getting my brakes and struts changed/fixed. I knew both were true, since my front was a little bouncy, and my brakes had never been changed since I bought the car (not to mention the increasingly low brake fluid situation).

I have a good friend who told me he could help me change both, so I was glad to cut out some of the costs of the whole experience. Little did we know just how impossible it is to change the struts on a little Japanese car. The brakes were no big deal, and we ended up getting those changed. The front right strut was the end of us. We got it off, but in our efforts, we also popped the axle out. A week, 1 tow, and quite a bit of money later, the car is running just fine (we also rotated the tires while we were at it).

You should have seen us out there as we tried to back the car out of the parking spot, while the car only had three wheels. You've never seen a set of guys so helpless, but overall it was so comical. We tried to put the car on a jack with wheels and use that as the fourth wheel. Pushing it right along, hoping to get that car backed out of the spot, we dropped the car on the ground 4 times, it was quite the site to see.

If there is anything that I learned from the whole experience, it's this: don't change your own struts if you don't have all the proper tools. My friend felt horrible about getting us in over our heads, but I don't hold it against him. Doubting that he'll ever read this post, I can't say enough just how much I don't hold it against him. At least we saved some on changing the brakes. At least a dinner will be coming his way, but he's already told me he'll probably reject that one.

P.S. I'll admit that I got help from more than just him. For the sake of anonymity, I'll just say thanks for the added help. It couldn't have come at a better time, and was/is immensely appreciated.