Finally made it down to the car lot last Friday to test drive a new ride. Overall the results were good and so I ended up buying this 2002 Chevy Cavalier. The most serious problem revealed by the test drive was a lot of noise coming from the rear of the car. Looking at the tires, one was worn much worse than the other one. On a car with a dead axle, this is usually an indication of a bearing or alignment problem. In either case, the fix is not all that expensive, so it was not a deal breaker.
The body and paint were in good shape, with one glaring exception. The right front fender has a bad spot just ahead of the door and it is buckled just a bit also. If I can find a replacement fender in the right color, that will be an easy fix. Add a little touch up paint on the door and it will be good as new then.
Some minor annoyances like the trunk lock cylinder was not secure and would tend to pop out of the back hanging by a wire. That has already been fixed with a trip to Advance Auto Parts to buy a pack of these clips for $5. Not sure why they are only sold in this style as there are 2 door clips and 2 trunk clips. Don't know of many vehicles with 2 trunks LOL. At least I have some extras if I ever need one.
Another annoyance was the drivers side sun visor was very loose. It seems the plastic piece which holds the visor was broke and so it was just held on by being too big to fit through the hole. The image at the far left is how it should look (of course a good one should not have any cracks in it), and the one at the near left is what it actually looks like.
The passenger side still works as it should, but I took it off to check it and found that the same problem is already started on that side as well. It is still in one piece, but won't be for long at the look of this picture. The crack has started in the same exact fashion as the one on the other side. I bought some plastic repair epoxy with hopes of fixing both of these, but I don't know how successful that will be.
In case I can't fix them, at least there are some on Ebay which are not too expensive. I can get both the left and right side for around $50 shipped. Plus I have already contacted my brother-in-law (Jim McKinney, Lexington, Kentucky) and we plan to take a trip to the local junkyard to see what parts we can find next time I'm down that way. My primary reason to go is for a visit, but if I could score some needed parts while I'm there it would make the trip even better.
We went to the tire shop yesterday and had a new rear tire put on to see what effect it would have on the noise. It did seem to help the problem, but it's still there and I don't know whether it's a problem or just the way small cars sound as I'm not really used to smaller vehicles. I will feel much better if the bearing can be checked. My grandson (Billy) is supposed to change my oil and filter today after school, so perhaps we can pull the back wheel and see if there is any obvious problem. I would have liked to think the guys at the tire shop would have mentioned it if they saw it, but you never know.
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