Tire and Oil Check

Inflated all 98 and 02 tires. As usual, front right 98 tire was about 8 psi lower than the others. It is annoying enough I'll take it to Discount Tire during the holidays.

Still sad about parents' illogical trading in of beloved 2001 Corolla. :(

02 motor oil level was at bottom mark. Both 98 and 02 oil were brown. Will tell Dad to take it in during weekdays.

Logged into here to check if the 02 had its 100k maintenance done.

1998 Front Right Tire

I just checked the tire pressures. The front right tire on the 1998 was only 20 psi while the others were about 28. Review past posts to see if this occurred.

Tire Rotations

After checking all my parents' car's tire pressures, I realized that I should note when to take their tires to be rotated (to avoid future disheartening you-should-replace-all-four-tires-soon experiences at Discount Tire). According to my records, here are the last dates that at least one tire on the car was replaced:

1998: 12/22/2009 at 102,003 miles - rotation (currently at 102,621 mi)
2001: 5/22/2009 at 45,864 miles - all four tires (currently at 47,706 mi)
2002: 3/20/2010 at 100,024 miles - all four tires

The eighth-generation Corollas are still excellent. :)

Wheel Bearing on 2002

Last weekend on Saturday, March 13, 2010, I had the front driver's side wheel bearing and hub replaced. It made the steering-wheel-shaking-during-braking problem we inherited from the first owner go away completely! I was thrilled and couldn't believe it. The rumbling noise in the car while turning also went away completely. Even regular overall driving in a straight line was much quieter, almost as quiet as a new 8th-generation Corolla. I love Top Tech. I wonder if any of their mechanics are single.

While they had the car lifted, I walked around underneath and noticed the front tires' tread getting low. Took the '02 to Discount Tire in Austin today and had both front tires replaced with 85k-mi Pirellis. The guy indicated the driver's side rear tire tread was getting low, too. I'll monitor it and replace it next time. It was another good experience at Discount Tire, despite the $253 expense.

The '02 also got broken into overnight in the apartment complex for my first-ever break-in experience. The alarm had been activated, but I didn't hear it go off last night. The front passenger seat was soaked. The thief took everything in the glove compartment, which wasn't valued very much--lots of quarters for toll roads, two purses to hold the quarters, two tire gauges, and my Windshield screen case. I'm annoyed but thankful they didn't vandalize the car and the loss was so small. I do feel guilty about storing the coins there, though, and will therefore not spend any money on fun stuff this weekend. I hope that thief used the money to buy food for his family or something honorable.

2002 Oil Change

The 2002 got an oil change today and the mechanic mentioned the 90,000-mile service that it missed. It has 99,400 miles now.