A Car Repair Story

Selena when I finished her six months ago

My mom's mid-life crisis involved getting romantic with the 17 year old juvenile delinquent 
down the street, spending $10,000 on said boyfriend, and getting her Nissan Sentra
 repossessed.  We had to rent cars for a while, which caused the neighbors to be 
envious of us.  They thought it was a sign of wealth that we could rent a different car
 each month.  It is amazing the things people will be jealous of.  I'm under the opinion
 if I had a maggoty tuna sandwich that came from a dumpster, my neighbors would
 find a way to be covetous over that too.

The one good thing about renting a bunch of cars is that you essentially get to test
 drive a lot of models...though, of course, it is an expensive way to do it.  My mom had
 always liked Hyundai's designs, but she didn't like how light the cars were.  She had
 the same objections about Kia, which she felt even more unsafe in (and she thought
 their designs were the ugliest anyway).  Dodges always seem to have problems with
 their ignition.  Nissans always seem to have a problem with leaking trunks (we owned
 two, and both had the same problem--and so did the one we rented).  The Ford 
Taurus was an awkward car that made you feel every bump in the road.  Unfortunately,
 this was the car we had when we took a trip to Key West.  Mind you, I'm talking about
 when we rented these cars in 1999-2000.  It is possible that improvements have been
 made...and then you have to take into consideration that rental cars probably get a lot
 of abuse.

My mom fell in love with the Mitsubishi.  She used to pass by a dealer, and her eye fell on
 one car in particular.  One day, she went into the dealership, and she said to the car dealer,
 "I want that car!"  He said, "Oh, no.  You don't want that car."  She thought he was doing
 his car dealer thing and replied either she got that car or she was walking off the lot.  So
 she bought that car...and then found out it was a stick shift.  My mom had learned on a
 stick shift as a teenager, but it had been a long time since she had driven one.  The car
 had to be towed home, but the car dealer was nice enough to give her lessons on how to
 drive a stick shift.

The car was a 2000 Mitsubishi Mirage DE.  It was black and a two-door.  I'm in the habit
 of naming our cars.  I decided to name this one Selena.  I was a Batman fan at the time, 
and I was naming her after Selena Kyle (a.k.a. Catwoman).  The neighbors were resentful,
 and we had to endure some more harassment.  I was resentful because my neighbors tend
 to have more expensive stuff than we do on a regular basis, and yet they always begrudge
 us for the car we get after ten years of driving an old one.

Selena became our favorite car.  I think cars are like people.  There is always a "the one"
 with a lover or spouse.  Selena was "the car".  Why?  I'm not really sure.  It is possible it is
 because she is a stick shift.

A stick shift is scarier to drive.  It involves more synchronized movement of your left hand
 and left foot and right foot.  You have to know just how much pressure to put on the
 clutch and on the accelerator, and you have to know when you can shift.  Do anything at
 the improper time, and the car will stall or make a grinding metal noise.  Inclines in the road
 are a nightmare to the new stick shift driver.  If you see a car rolling back, it is probably a
 stick shift.  You can stall easily on inclines, and during the first few months of driving Selena,
 my mom had to avoid certain roads because of inclines until she got the hang of it.  There is
 nothing worse than stalling suddenly when you are supposed to be going.  You panic, and
 then cars behind you honk angrily, and that makes you even more nervous and likely to stall
 again.  Or there are the times when the car does cross the street...by bunny hopping.  Did
 you know cars can hop?  I didn't until we got Selena.  So your car is hopping slowly across
 the street--and there is another car coming towards you and not slowing down.  Driving a
 stick shift as a beginning driver can take years off your life...and you swear that the car is 
cursing you out sometimes.

However, it is easier to bond with your car when it is a stick shift.  Stick shifts have more
 power and can get out of a jam very quickly, providing you have the presence of mind.  A 
stick shift talks to you.  You merge with the car essentially.  When Selena wants to go into
 a higher gear, she either growls or whines.  We have to watch Selena because she usually
 wants to go into a higher gear long before it is actually appropriate for her to do so.

Mitsubishi Mirages were discontinued in 2003 due to being an unpopular design.  They were
 replaced by the Lancer.  Apparently, though, they have been revamped and were released in
 2012.  However, maybe I'm biased, but I think Selena's design was the prettiest.

Selena, though, from the start did have her problems.  They were common problems that
 Mirage owners often complained about.  The cars themselves were very good, but their
 electrical systems had a tendency to constantly short out.  We've had this problem.  We
 can't use our electric window on the passenger side.  Mirage owners didn't like the
 two-door model (there was a four door model, but it wasn't as attractive).  We don't have
 a problem with it, but I suppose it is more of a problem for families.  People didn't like that
 the car wasn't definitely luxurious or definitely sporty.  Again, not an issue with us personally.
  Another problem--which Selena does have--is that Mirages are sensitive to weather.  They
 don't like it when the weather is too hot, and they also don't like the cold.  Selena really 
shudders and grumbles on cold days, and I am very glad we don't live in an area that snows. 
 When we start her up, I swear I hear her say, "F*** you! Why are we going grocery
 shopping in this weather?  You went grocery shopping last week!"

Selena has been a good car.  Inside, they claim she is still a new car, though now she is
 thirteen years old.  However, a couple of years ago, she started having her paint peel, mostly
 on her hood, rooftop, and trunk.  This is actually a very common problem in Florida, and it
 isn't just Mitsubishis that are affected.  Then Selena, when she no longer had paint to protect
 her, started developing rust holes.  When my mom went to mechanics about how to repair
 the problem, they merely shrugged and said it would just be better to get a new car.

We couldn't really afford a new car, and besides we felt Selena still had some years left in her.
  We were very fond of her.  She was paid off. However, we couldn't afford to spend a lot of
 money on her either.  The cheapest quote for a new paint job we got was $800.00--and that
 didn't include sanding or many coats of paint or even a protective coat.  We saw the cars that
 got the cheap paint job--it peeled off within the year.  An expensive job was at least $2,000. 
 I suppose they say it is better to just get a new car because to do it properly, you spend what
 could be a down payment on a new car.

So, I decided to do it myself.  I didn't know anything about cars, so I watched some Youtube
 videos.  I decided to do a series on it on my Youtube channel.  I thought people would find it
 amusing to watch a girl paint a car.  I wasn't sure if it would be cheaper in the end, but the
 advantage was that I could do it in bits when I could afford it...whereas you have to pay
 upfront with a professional. 

I was a little overwhelmed.  I am someone who actually is very comfortable with gender roles
 and timid about venturing into the male domain.  However, practicality has forced me to 
sometimes take on the male role because I didn't have a male to do them.  If you don't have a
 male relative or husband or reliable neighbor...and if you don't have money to pay a 
professional...then you often have to do it yourself.  I also realized it was going to be a big
 project and worried whether I could finish it.  This was not something I wanted to start and 
not finish.  I saw plenty of abandoned paint jobs on the road.

First, I treated the rust.  I tried a vinegar and water mixture.  The results were not as 
impressive as the video I had seen, but it seemed to work.  Then I patched it up with Bondo,
 which was rather difficult to use.  The first batch I made up got stiff before I could apply it.  I
 did better with the second batch.  My mom, though, sanded too much off later.  When I went 
to repair it, either the Bondo was old or I didn't get the mix right, but it was much softer.  It did
 dry and seemed to harden, so I didn't worry about it.  People often stared at the white
 splotches on the car, and I was always tempted to say, "She cut herself shaving."

It was a lot of work, though I loved it.  I sanded the car.  I washed it.  I primed it with three
 coats.  My mom and I actually liked the color of the primer best.  It was a grayish black, rather
 retro looking.  I used a Rustoleum spray on primer.  When people saw me buying all that spray
 paint, they thought I was up to nogood.  The self checkout at Home Depot actually made
 me show my ID to the clerk before I could purchase it.

I learned a lot about Selena as I painted her.  One thing I learned, Selena had been in an 
accident before we had gotten her.  We had actually always suspected this, but we didn't realize
 how bad it probably had been.  We were pretty certain some parts of her had been replaced.  
We found other signs of rust hole repairs.  We now wondered if there had been another reason
 why the car salesman had said, "You don't want to buy that car."

Spray painting can be rather annoying.  How well the paint goes on depends on the weather.  
Sometimes it streaks or runs.  I found it best to spray and then run over the area with a roller. 
 I also discovered that different areas of the car take paint differently.  Cars are like people in 
this way too.  You know how with your hair or face, there is always one side that doesn't get 
made up well or style well?  Cars have a good side and a bad side.  With Selena, the drivers
 side was the bad side.  Anything I did on that side was always difficult and never turned out
 well (as far as painting--oddly enough, it did better with the clear coat).

We were unprepared for the amount of attention Selena got when I was painting her.  My
 mom found it difficult to leave work after her shift because Selena would be surrounded by
 a bunch of men critiquing the paint job.  Several times she came out to find that someone
 had broken into the car, though they hadn't taken anything.  Selena was always getting felt up.
  One time my mom looked out the window to see a guy wearing a Darth Vader t-shirt and an
 elf hat pawing at the car.  Car guys always admired the job until my mom said her daughter
 was doing it, and then they would start talking about everything I did wrong.  I had expected
 some of this reaction--but the break-ins and strangers lurking around the car was rather
 frightening.

When I started painting her, I started using a paint roller--which turned out to be much easier
and produced better results.  I had been reluctant to do it because I was uncertain whether I
 could get the mixture of paint thinner and paint right.  It didn't turn out to be something only a
 rocket scientist could do, though I did have more problems when I got the environmentally
 friendly paint thinner that was much thicker.

I made my share of mistakes.  I could have kicked myself the one time I tried to paint her in the
 rain (yeah--I know...totally stupid) and gave her freckles.  Fortunately, the freckles could be
 painted over, and I learned a valuable lesson I should have known already:  Mother Nature's
 will wins out over yours.

Near the end, I was rushing.  It was summer, and the heat was horrible.  The sun reflected off
 the car, and I was getting sunburned as a result.  Also, the paint was acting badly because the
 surface it was being put on was hot.  Then there were the bugs, which bit me and got stuck
 literally in Selena's paint.  I realized that there may come a point that it would be too hot to 
work, and I wanted to finish before that happened.  I didn't want to wait several months and
 possibly have the weather undo my work.

I was exceedingly proud of myself when I finished painting her.  When I first started, I took into
 account that I was doing things cheaply, and I was not a skilled professional.  I didn't expect to
 make Selena look pretty.  I was just hoping I could protect her from further damage and fix the
 damage that was already there.  However, the painting had gone so well that I started thinking
 she was going to look fresh from the factory or showroom.

Then I put on the clear coat, and those hopes were dashed right away.  The clear coat only
 comes in a spray.  It is essentially like spraying clear nail polish.  That is what it smells like,
 and that is what the consistency was like.  It streaked.  It dripped.  It was a nightmare.  Other
 people have complained about it, so it wasn't just me apparently.  It is a common problem.

When I sanded it, little shards would adhere to the sandpaper and scratch the car.  Frustrated
 with the finer grit sandpapers that tore, I tried a coarser sandpaper...but then I made the car
 look like a zebra.

Finally, though, she was finished.  Mistakes had been made, but she was finished.  She hadn't
 quite turned out the way I had hoped when I started feeling good about the job, but she was
 protected.  I had finished what I had started.  I did something many people abandoned.  I
 finished something, which sometimes is hard for me to do because I am a devout abandoner
 of projects.  Selena ran better after the rust holes were covered.  People didn't wrinkle their 
noses at her anymore.  It had been worth it.

My playlist that details the project from start to finish:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLdcCbWTBhkq92pIlP_qNlV0cZznnBZqR

The video I did that shows Selena's before and after pictures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFNGEOVEtE4&list=PLLdcCbWTBhkq92pIlP_qNlV0cZznnBZqR&index=31

Six months later, though, a new problem has developed.  I had started noticing just before
 this happened that the patches were starting to have bubbles popping up.  After the hot 
weather, we started having constant rain.  Then it started getting cooler.  One day, I looked out
 and noticed the Bondo was cracking.

When I looked up the problem, some people said that you had to actually put the Bondo on in
 layers.  However, another person said that Bondo does have a tendency to crack when 
exposed to the cold. I'm not sure, though, if new rust isn't the culprit.

This was rather heartbreaking, particularly after only six months.  However, I am determined to
 fix it.  My mom ordered something that is apparently made by Bondo but is a different type of
 repair kit.  We'll see how that works.