Following a current transfer to a metropolis condominium with out a storage, I discover myself in an analogous predicament to many different car-owning apartment-dwelling People; The place the fuck do I work on my automotive? I nonetheless have all of my instruments and jacks, and I’ve positively executed upkeep (as much as and together with engine swaps) jobs out within the open earlier than, however I’m outdated and it’s sizzling. So I booked some rental time at a neighborhood DIY auto restore store known as Wingman Storage. This place guidelines, and I’ll positively use them once more sooner or later.
Our Porsche Cayenne Diesel was overdue for an oil change, and the dealership fees over $500 for that job alone. It additionally had some squeaky entrance brakes that I wished to switch and figured I’d purchase the rears anyway. We’ve had this automotive since December, and I wished to offer it a look-over myself, so I wanted a approach to get it up on a elevate. Fortunately a good friend advisable Wingman, and I received myself booked in for a much-needed wrench session.
Armed with an oil change equipment and a contemporary Powerstop pad-and-rotor set from ECS Tuning, I headed all the way down to Wingman on a Wednesday morning to get beneath the truck and get it again in tip-top form. I rolled in because the store opened and marveled in any respect the area I’d be borrowing. There are three lifts within the store up for grabs, every outfitted with its personal toolbox, workbench, air provide, vacuum, and mini fabrication station. With additional units of just about each automotive device you’ll be able to consider, Wingman is healthier geared up than any house storage I’ve ever labored in.
The one factor you’ll be able to’t do by yourself is function the lifts, presumably for insurance coverage functions, however that’s a brief job that Wingman does for you. As soon as the automotive was up within the air I used to be given free rein, kind of, of the area. The oil change went like a breeze, and even higher than regular as a result of I didn’t must discover a place to get rid of the outdated oil afterward.
I used to be somewhat shocked to see the brake calipers had been held on with a beefy triple sq. bolt. I hadn’t seemed into what instruments can be wanted for this job earlier than digging in, but when I’d executed this job at house, I’d have been caught working to the ironmongery store for a device I’d use as soon as and doubtless lose earlier than I received round to changing these pads once more. Fortunately Wingman had a full set of huge triple sq. sockets, and it didn’t gradual me down for even a minute.
The entrance brakes hadn’t worn all the way down to the factory-equipped brake pad put on sensors but, however the rotors had been fairly severely grooved (as you’ll be able to see), and the pads had been fairly low, so I swapped all the brand new stuff on. Whereas the automotive was within the air, I inspected the rear brakes they usually nonetheless had loads of materials and confirmed little indicators of wear and tear at almost 90,000 miles, so I left them alone. I’ll shelve the rear brakes for a future job, saving me some money and time in the long term.
I accomplished the whole lot I wanted to do, and checked out after two and a half hours. The store area rents by the hour, so my partial hour nonetheless counted as an entire hour, however they gave me a first-timers low cost due to the good friend’s referral, and it labored out to only $99 for a three-hour slot.
Was it value it? Nicely, contemplating I spent about $600 for the oil change equipment and brakes, and $99 for the area, my invoice on the Porsche vendor for a similar work would have been considerably increased. Shopping for the components aftermarket as a substitute of by way of the vendor saved me various money, however doing the work myself positively made a financial affect. Was it nonetheless costly as hell? Yeah, it’s a Porsche. It was completely value it for me to do the work myself.
When you’re within the Cleveland/Akron/Canton space, and also you want a elevate for a couple of hours, name up Wingman. What an incredible area!
