You go see Kon's Auto at Venables and Clark and he will take good care of you ;):thumbsup:

I've changed my brakes several times in the parking garage of the building I lived in for 5 years while in university. I have repaired my roommates car in my current building. My socket set, tool bag, and jack stands take up very little space in the storage room of my condo.

Most newer buildings forbid car maintenance of any kind in the parkade. :(

I've got to take my car to my folks' garage to do anything.

Alot of places,the strata does not allow people to work on cars in the car park area.

It can be done,but you have to be sneaky about it.

You change the brakes "several times" in five years? Damn dude.. time to lay off the brake pedal a bit.

I lived in one of those buildings. Just do it early in the morning, the yuppies that don't want you working on your car are also the type not to get out of bed till noon on the weekend.

I should have said "few". I did front brakes twice and rears once, not at the same time.

that's the one thing i hate about living in an apartment. i refuse to pay other people to do simple things on the car, but living in an apartment has so much restrictions.
The previous caretaker knew me pretty well, and he would care less about me working on my car, even when i took out my whole suspension. he even chatted with me for a while while i was working on the car
but the new one is pretty anal.

At one point, he even tried telling me that i can't swap my own wheels, except i was told directly by the strata management that i am allowed to.

for me, the best time is usually in the middle of the night when there is rarely traffic.

Exactly. When I was living in a house I changed the oil on my Subie all the time. With my Si the condo won't let me do any kind of maintenance work in my parking space. I was parked at my friends apartment and the landlord freaked out I was changing the wheels and told me to GTFO.

Did you tell him his sentence was all wrong in grammar?

In response to people who say "yes I can fix a lot of the stuff myself"

here's a story for you.

Did you try to replace the rear brake pads on a 2007 E class? Hell forget that, have you ever left it alone for a half year or more?

1. if you just take out the wheels and unbolt the brakes you won't be able to remove it because the computer applies pressure on rear brakes as a back up measure in case you somehow forgot to pull the ebrake. There's a procedure to prevent it, of course, but it's not something Mercedes tell everyone about.

2. if you disconnect the battery for a long absence (holiday or what not) the dash will say "visit mercedes dealership" and the car will run in valet mode with shit performance and all windows locked in the up position forever. No OBDII scanner can unlock that. If you left the car without unplugging the battery it'll run flat, ending up with the same effect after you recharge the battery.

So DIY? what DIY?

Dont mind him, he's a narrow minded hyundi tiburon owner.