No way I’m paying those prices… I’ll do it myself in my driveway.
Same here! I’ll sit outside with my hand tools and fix everything myself. After someone put a thermostat in backwards on my old 86 F-150 and blew the engine, I stopped trusting shops. Now it’s just me, some beers, music, and lots of swearing. People are way more capable than they think!
@Hayes
Nobody will care for your car like you do. Most of this stuff isn’t that hard—just double-check your work.
@Hayes
Same here! On my 08, I’ve replaced motor mounts, brakes, calipers, and even fixed the key tumbler so I didn’t need the auto-start. These cars are pretty simple to work on.
Jaden said:
@Hayes
Same here! On my 08, I’ve replaced motor mounts, brakes, calipers, and even fixed the key tumbler so I didn’t need the auto-start. These cars are pretty simple to work on.
I’m doing brake pads and ABS sensors on my Fusion tomorrow. Having a heated garage for once has me ridiculously hyped for this!
For the price of that suspension repair, you could get a decent set of KW coilovers and install them yourself.
Check out Big Ben’s Cars and Cycles on this forum—he’s got a whole DIY playlist for clutch jobs.
Ray said:
Check out Big Ben’s Cars and Cycles on this forum—he’s got a whole DIY playlist for clutch jobs.
Seconded! We just fixed a clutch with his videos (plus a few others when he skipped details). A word of advice: don’t cheap out on the transmission jack—it makes alignment way harder. If we had to do it again, we’d consider an engine hoist.
Good luck with the transmission… these things are known for being tricky and not user-friendly.
Clove said:
Good luck with the transmission… these things are known for being tricky and not user-friendly.
Why do you say that? A mechanic on YouTube said they’re actually good for beginners to learn on.
@Ray
Oh, maybe I’m thinking of a different transmission. But I bet you’ll run into problems eventually—dual-clutch systems like these aren’t exactly reliable.
Clove said:
@Ray
Oh, maybe I’m thinking of a different transmission. But I bet you’ll run into problems eventually—dual-clutch systems like these aren’t exactly reliable.
Maybe it’s good for beginners because you’ll get plenty of practice fixing it. 
@Ray
No transmission is beginner-friendly. If you don’t have tools or know-how, you’re going to get stuck somewhere. And mistakes with this stuff can be dangerous. Brakes? Sure, those are $130 for pads and rotors. Struts and springs? Around $400-$600 for a full set. But transmissions? Different ballgame.
Yeah, the repairs might be needed, but those prices are insane. Do you live in Dubai or something?
That’s the shop saying, ‘We don’t want to work on this, take it somewhere else’ pricing. $850 for pads and rotors? Insane. A skilled mechanic can do brakes in under an hour depending on the car. Struts are like $120 each, and clutches are $500-$600 online.
@Vann
Wait, it’s just for pads? For $850? They better be doing the rotors too for that price!
Crazy prices… in Poland, you could buy a decent 2012 Focus for that kind of money.
$870 for brakes? That’s a complete joke.