I'm certainly no ASE certified automotive technician, but I know my way around most basic parts on a vehicle. That's why I typically always do my own brake jobs. Sure, I love to give my business to local garages as often as I can, but I also like the savings and the satisfaction that come with repairs done at home with my own two hands.

With the exception being my truck, because it's a 1-ton and a bear to work on, I do all brake jobs here at home. Whether it be my VW, my wife's Jeep, or whatever other vehicle I happened to have because 'I had to have it'.

Well, the brakes on my wife's newest vehicle were up to be changed next. So earlier today I began the task of getting the jeep in the air, wheels off and prepped, etc. I also decided that I would do a rotation since I was going to have all the wheels and tires off anyway. No big deal, right? Wrong.

First, can we just talk about the new style electronic parking brakes? Sure, they're really handy and are an amazing safety feature, but they're not much fun to work on. You first have to remember to go into the vehicle's touch screen control system and turn on service mode so the brake doesn't kick on and cut your fingers off while you're repairing them. Secondly, they're just a pain to work around because it adds more crap in the way of the caliper and caliper mount.

Okay, enough rambling- back to my point. My point is, just stop being a proud do-it-yourselfer and save time and headaches and let other people do the work. You know why? Because you'll avoid dumb crap like this.

Stuck nut
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^ You know what that is? That's a T5 bolt that holds the rotor to the hub assembly. Does it look a little strange to you? Well it should because I rounded the thing over so bad it will no longer move.

So instead of this being a nice afternoon in my garage tossing some new rotors and pads on for my wife, this has turned into a 7 phone call fiasco as I try and figure out how to get this stupid thing off now that it won't turn. In addition, because Jeep, I have to go buy another special tool tomorrow to get the caliper brackets off the back. I can't even wait, it's going to be so much fun that I probably won't even swear 93 times while I attempt to finish the job.

Anyway, thank you for letting me bore you with this automotive nonsense. Will I learn my lesson and start taking all my vehicles to the shop for basic service like this? Of course I won't. Will I continue to botch even the simplest of tasks causing me to spend way more money than I needed to? Of course I will. Because I'm a man- and it's what men do.

Please excuse me while I go chug a beer and check out hot chicks.

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