For me........... it's much more basic than that. My wife and I have a running joke / scenario with people we meet or just observing. Question: Would that guy or gal survive a Zombie apocalypse? If so how many days?

It quickly determines if they look like they have a shred of common sense and basic decision making. Not critical, but basic.

We do this all the time, in fun, soley for our entertainment. It's a much better qualifier as some people these days don't even know what 'changing a tire' is........

I was driving home one evening and saw a man standing next to his Bemmer while the AAA tower truck driver, a woman, changed his tire. I'm sure his Man Card had expired.

There's definitely a balance between doing it yourself and paying someone else to do it. And for me, that's been some hard lessons learned. I was raised in a poor family. It was either DIY or it didn't get done because we just couldn't afford to pay someone. Now I'm grown and have a real paycheck, and it makes sense for me to hire out for a lot of things.

Still, simple things like rotating the tires? It takes me less time to rotate the tires myself than it would take to drive to the dealer and wait in line, even though the dealer will do it for free. Landscaping? I'll hire out for that any day -- it's time consuming work that goes much faster with a team that has the right tools and skills.

I would argue that the wisdom to know what to DIY and what to hire out for comes from having learned what's involved in the DIY. Maybe it makes sense to wait 2 hours for AAA to show up, and maybe it doesn't, but there's no way to make a wise decision unless you understand the problem.

If it takes me less time to DIY than arguing with some zit faced noob tech at the shop, I DIY.

If it requires special tools, involves gear or trans lube, or large vacuum pump beyond what you do for AC, I farm it out.

Too old. I am not ashamed to say I like easy cool stuff. Save the messed up stuff for the guys who do it for a living.

A few years back, one of my co-workers/neighbors said her son's car has a flat tire. I went out to help him, but I made him actually change the tire and do all of the operations. I know I could have done it faster, but it is a skill EVERYONE needs to know.

Side note, our BMW X5 didn't come with a spare. I bought a spare tire kit that fits in the spot in the cargo compartment. I also got rid of the god-awful run flat tires that cost $700 each!

AAA has always been 15-20 away around here. it would take me that long just get the tire out from under my truck.

Oh and another anecdote. When I lived in Western Mass and commuted 54 miles (each way) for work, I would run my standard tires all year long, and keep the snow tires in the trunk in the winter. I could swap out the standard tires to snow tires (both front wheels) in about 15 minutes.

The snow tires lasted virtually forever this way. If I had to do it again, I would get a little electric impact wrench and an adapter for the scissor jack. I bet that would cut it down to 10 minutes.

I have found that the exact opposite is true. When I got back on the dating scene after my divorce a few years ago, every woman I dated was fascinated that I knew how to fix stuff. Many told me it was a huge turn on.

But anyway, my BIL is like this. He has a high profile career and has no clue on anything mechanical. The TV remote to him is challenging. He calls "professionals" when anything needs fixing either house or car wise. I appreciate the fact the that he knows his limits and that he respects the people that can fix things though.

Calling AAA and clean fingernails is great..but if it's 2am and you are in the middle of some unknown W. Texas side road taking a shortcut based on the garmin in the middle of a blizzard..you might not have a choich in the matter.

The basics really should be taught with drivers ed.
(remember home ec and wood shop classes?)

I tried to teach the ex who drives all over Detroit but she didn't want to listen to 10 minutes of free knowledge which would potentially save her life.
-She's always complaining about not having money but has a great job.
-She calls saying the red dash light is on. So she'll drive it an hour over to my place so I can look at it. I tell her to pull off the road immediately, walk to a gas station, and buy a couple quarts of oil, NOW, or she will be buying a new engine.
-The tire light is now on. (Oil still hasn't been changed). 15psi. I take care of that. Vac Wash wax. But I'm still the biggest jerk in the universe. I'm out. I'm done.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1496938070.jpg

In their defense (somewhat, because by and large I agree with possessing those skills):

Good luck changing the tire on a heavy SUV, with super heavy wheel/tire combo, no studs on the hub (so you have to really lift and position the wheel yourself) on a sloped roadside wondering if the crappy factory jack is about to drop 6000 lbs on your appendages. I've done it once on my wife's SUV and I think if it happened again, even I might call AAA... This is not like replacing the 165 tire on your 912's fuchs, just accessing the spare on her truck took 10 minutes of lying under the back end unscrewing the incredibly long retaining bolt and I damn near died lifting the bad tire in the trunk... Should I mention the lugs tightened to 5000 lb-ft of torque requiring me to jump up and down and slipping off the stubby little wrench. There's no way in hell my wife could have done this, and she knows how... I can see a non-mechanically enclined guy raise the white flag, especially if wearing nice clothes.

The other day I was changing a wheel on my 991 and nearly threw my back out in the process, look at those things: (no photoshop involved, standard 19" 911 wheel next to a 1972)



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1496938191.JPG

One more anecdotal point on this: I dated a girl for a couple of years who was openly fascinated by the fact that I "could do stuff." One of our early dates involved building period-correct railings for an old house. Apparently she had been raised by a man who didn't know how to change a tire, and was thrilled to be with someone who had some basic life skills. However, as time went on, she found that she preferred NOT to DIY, in virtually every case. She ended up leaving me for a much older man with a giant bank account who could write whatever checks she wanted. (shrug) YMMV.

My dad took off when I was seven. So I never got the basic mechanical mentoring most here seem to have. I had to learn everything through books and a brutal 20 year trial and error process.

I think a lot of the guys of my generation have the same problem.

You need a beer and a cigar........hint - hint.;)

My sister's husband is similar, but in his case his dad used to beat him and his mom up. The mom is a hairdresser, so it's as if the husband was raised in the wild by a pack of gays. It's really odd to see a fat, aging Irish guy with a huge potato head act like a prissy and have no clue about checking the air in the tires or changing windshield wiper blades. On the other hand, it must be comforting to my sister to have an idiot who is on her level emotionally and intellectually.

At the opposite extreme are my carnie friends who run the rides at our pumpkin patch. Everything is DIY, but they are like a pack of tweakers with Payless drugstore brand tools, and duct tape from the Dollar Store.

The tools my old man had were a slot screw driver, a hammer and a pair of pliers........ I am convinced he did not know what was the business end of any of them.

I used those tools when I was 12 to pull apart my mother's wash machine and fix a switch contact with one of her emery boards. Big family, no money for a new washer or service man call and an old man who didn't give a schlit about these domestic issues.

Mother thought I was a genius, old man thought I was a smart ass.

My wife took the BMW to get the oil changed. This is a 2011 with sensors for EVERYTHING. 45,000 miles.

The recommendations came back:

Need brakes and rotors all around
Change all the belts (6 years old, good idea)
Need a new (single) glow plug, but let's change them all
One control arm bushing
Alignment
Engine Air Filter

Total: around $3K

Total scam. The brakes have pad sensors and none are activated. The rotors should be able to be turned at least once.

what model beemer?

I have a 2007 335xi. Brake pads went 60k + without scuffing sensors. I changed them out myself. Took about an hour (all 4 wheels) Rotors were fine. cost was under $200.

5 miles from home I had AAA change the wife's flat years ago. :):)
I buy and change tires too often.
29.5x15 rears. the good is gone after the first 3 laps. ;)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1496944533.jpg

There are arguments for replacing the pads before they get down to their minimums, but how and where the car is driven has a bearing on that. You ought to never turn rotors and most high-end dealerships are not going to do that nowadays.

JR