My '95 Caprice Classic STW, "Sally"

[Arquemann]

Decided it was time for summer tires, so a few "while-at-its".

- I've had quite a bit of brake vibration from the beginning, so before ordering new discs I decided to check and go through the front brakes to make sure there's nothing else causing the vibration.
Everything was quite crusty, one slide pin should really be replaced, but nothing was completely seized or problematic. Some wire brushing, filing and a bunch of copper grease later, everything should be free and fully functioning. Did not improve the brake vibration, but definitely did not do any harm. I think I'll replace the pads and discs before selling the car, the vibration is kinda obnoxious and the discs are toast.

- Should really replace the front sway bar links, but for now I just tightened them.

- Greased the front suspension, minus one lower ball joint, I must've hit the control arm on something and the grease fitting has snapped off.

- Ziptied up the wiring for an O2 sensor that was hanging down under the car, loom clip had broken off.

Did get the summer wheels/tires on finally, a quick trip to check the tire pressures, the bing chilling ching chong tires and crappy wheels vibrate way less than I remembered, nice!
I am officially shopping for an economical daily driver to replace the Caprice, the voice of reason in my head is slowly getting louder. I've had a few realizations along the way.

[Arquemann]

Got new front brake stuff ready, waiting on a good day and less irons in the fire to install. New discs, pads and wheel seals. Hopefully the hubs have new outer bearing races in them as I didn't feel like buying new bearings. What I already noticed is that the cheapo pads don't have any retainer clips attached to them, like ones that hold the pad to the piston...

A friend of mine picked herself up a cream puff Caprice wagon last week, so at yesterdays cruise night we just had to park the big booties side by side. The body's been off the frame, repainted, frame dipped and epoxied, not a spec of rust (except in the rear glass latch, which is rustier than mine) Has a nicely rebuilt and slightly hopped up 305 which runs like a clock. Note the EU-spec lights; amber turn signals in place of reverse lights and an ugly plastic wart added for a reverse and fog light. Side indicators in the fenders. Fronts are just amazon garbage, it would've had yellow parking lights, separate indicator bulbs and no marker lights.

[Arquemann]

I think I've ruined regular cars for myself.

This crappy and worn out 30 y.o. pile of Chevy is quieter and immensely more comfortable than any "economical" daily driver that I can come up with. If I want similar levels of comfort and quiet, with any reasonable improvement in fuel efficiency, I'm looking at premium models of either Mercedes, Audi or BMW. And there goes the whole idea of getting a more economical car.

Probably the biggest single thing about modern cars is that they're unibody, and noisy. I've got cheap tires on the Caprice and still there's barely any tire noise into the cabin. Most noise inside is just wind noise and the terribly loud blower motor, a quiet ride overall. In contrast to my parents' premium asf F11 5-series, nappa leather, new Michelin tires and all that bullshit. Still a considerable amount of tire noise inside, very little wind noise though. At highway speeds the noise levels in both cars are about the same I reckon, just different sources.


Oh and I have an exhaust leak that sounds like an intermittent belt chirp, had fun diagnosing that.
Put 150€ into the tank today, and didn't even get a full tank. Sucks major balls.