kiffie

Turns out the grinding/shuddering noise was, in fact, significant!

I took the Bug in for her rear wheel bearings, and got her back with the car equivalent of a note pinned to her lapel:

Her front ball joints are bad. They'll need to be done. Soon.

Thankfully, "soon" is not "now" -- I'm not in the danger zone, yet. We're going back in a month for a recheck, to see how much they've progressed toward unsafe levels of no. If they're still okay in a month, I'll put it off another month, and then lather, rinse, repeat.

This isn't me being a procrastinator. random and I are moving within the month, and our funds are pretty much exhausted. I'm still trying to find a second job-- at this point, I'm considering returning, if briefly, to food service just to make ends meet --and any work on the Bug's wheels is on the expensive side.

It cost around $600 to get the bearings done. My folks helped out, there. But they're also helping pay for part of the cost of moving, so asking more of them isn't something I can-- or would want to --do.

And it'll cost around $700 for the ball joints. Cheap for a car. Expensive for a Bug.

And expensive for a kiff.

Hopefully, the Bug holds out for a while. At least until I can get my financial feet back under me.