My butt cheek is raw...
 

I think it's from pulling out my wallet so many times today. As I've said, I came into possession of my 99 after my mother passed away and I've finally had the chance to do some real work to the car...by that I mean I've paid someone else to cuss and throw tools.

To begin with, the right front tire was smooth as glass. The other three were in good shape, but I needed to do something before the thing blew out while driving. So after scouring two used tire lots and three salvage yards, I finally found a matched set of Zeno Strata tires that were in excellant condition, probably less than 5,000 miles on them and still attached to the car rims they used to belong to. My mom's car was riding with 235/55's in front and the new tires 205/60's. While not my first choice of tires, (I had to do a search for Zeno...never heard of them before), the fact that I could take the both of them, mounted and balanced on my rims, for less than the cost of one brand new tire, made this an easy decision.

From there it was to the garage to get the front end aligned, and a tune up (new plugs, wires, fuel and air filters). Needless to say I was feeling waaaaay too good about myself until the final bill arrived. But the car now runs really well, has a nice "pick-up" to it, and it no longer feels like it's trying to throw me off the road.

awsome man why didnt you do the tune up your self?could have saved you a crap load of money.....

Believe me...I tried. I am currently living in Texas while going to school while the rest of the family is waiting for me back in NC. In NC I have tools...lots of them...and big floor jacks, and jack stands, and ramps. Here...well here...I have some screw drivers, some sockets, and a few power tools (drill, saw, sander).

I saved money on the tires because I pulled them, pulled them from the rims, and mounted them on my own, thus freeing up the guy working the front desk of the junk yard. The problem with the tune up is I can't get under the thing safely and can't reach half of the plugs...unless I go out and but a set of U-joints...which probably wouldn't be used again for a long time. I was going to do the fuel filter myself but the guy at the shop did it for me for nothing...so I can't complain.

As for the alignment...I wouldn't even know where to begin. Still though...I now have about $500.00 into the car (that includes the new battery to replace the original) and I just hit 50,000 miles today!

Glad your making progress. I just dropped $315 on hoses, belts, rotors, brakes, plugs, oil and filters and I'm having to do the work myself! LOL. Unloaded the motor in the garage this morning and was going to mount it to the engine cradle but it was too cold. Thinking I might as well spent $175 for new radiator instead of using one that had oil floating around in it.

yea understandable plugs are a bish to get to but can be done im just a do it myself kinda guy allways have been cause im poor lol.

It's amazing to me how fast this is adding up. I've got a laundry list of "want-to's" if I ever have more money than common sense. Next up for my "have-to's" though will be the brakes,oil change, and a new serpentine belt. I believe I can do those with what I have...my first purchase was an idiot-book (Haynes)...so between that and this site I'm well equipped in the "help" catagory.

I would have done it myself at home (North Carolina) for the same reason...I'm poor. I still miss my big truck (where do you hook up your bassboat on these Camaros?), but I'll probably keep driving the Camaro until I get back to NC just to save on gas.

Is your car a 6?or an 8?

dude i allways use tie downs idk what your doing wrong:icon_shrug:jk yea where in nc you from cause im in nc.

3.8L V-6. I call Fayetteville home. I'm currently in El Paso. I don't know if tie-downs will work with my boat...it's engine is actually bigger than the Camaro's.