So, having bought our new-to-us Camry on Friday, and brought it home Saturday, I noticed some interesting things about it Sunday.
It has THREE brands of tires on it. The front tires look new, but they’re called ‘Road King’ or something like that. The passenger rear was a Dunlop P4000 touring tire, and the driver’s side rear was a BFGoodrich something-or-other.
The BFGoodrich tire was also backwards.
Some tires, particularly rain tires, have V-shaped treads that dissipate water, IF THEY’RE MOUNTED CORRECTLY! If they’re not, they approximate the wet-road traction of a greased pig.
No problem, I thought…I have all the tools necessary to jack the rear of the car, and flip the two rear tires. Ah yes, as with most of my “this will be easy” inclinations, I was wrong.
Jacking the car was easy: The rear subframe carrier has a nice flat spot where the suspension attaches, and with 60% of the weight on the front wheels, my 2 1/2 ton jack was well up to the task.
Then, to my horror, while removing the wheels, 2 lugnuts on both wheels seemed to need a little…persuasion. No problem, I have a 2-foot steel breaker-bar (Craftsman, natch!).
Snap.
Snap.
Snap.
Snap.
That was the sound of 4 rusty wheel studs giving way. Now, let me set the scene more fully: It’s 3pm. The car’s in the driveway, not the garage (hey, this is a 10 minute job,right?). The sky is overcast and looks like rain. My wife is asleep and has no idea I’ve just immobilized the only car she can drive up to Louisville to get Joey from his dad’s house.
A trip she has to make in 3 hours.
And, I’ve never so much as touched a drum brake in my life.
So, in the next 3 hours, I made a trip to Advance Auto, Autozone, then back to advance, to buy every single compatible lug stud in Georgetown (total of 6, between the two parts places), along with 6 lug nuts (again, the total supply our little berg had to offer). I found-out that the best way to separate a drum from the hub is to use the helpful 10mm screw holes to drive-in a WD40-soaked bolt, breaking the corrosion.
I had it buttoned-up and test-driven with 2 minutes to spare.
Excitement. :-)