Since day one, Haynes has been all about helping you, the home mechanic, to carry out your own repairs on your vehicles. Here, we celebrate those who use their spare time and Haynes Manuals to repair and improve their pride and joy.
Reader: Ryan Taylor, Halifax
Vehicle: 2009 Ford Fiesta
At Haynes, we love anyone who decides to work on their car themselves, and that applies even more if they’re a young, new driver with decades of motoring ahead of them. By starting out on this way, you have the potential to save yourself tens of thousands of pounds over the course of your motoring life.
One such person is Ryan Taylor, who has been driving for only a little more than a year, and who has a 2009 Ford Fiesta Titanium.
His most recent task was replenishing the front swivel hub bearings, which took him two days, and as he says himself “taught me a great deal about the workings of the steering and suspension components”.
However, that wasn't the start of Ryan’s endeavours.
Unfortunately, his car was damaged while in a car park. Did he complain? Well, yes probably. Did he write the car off? Nope, Did he send it away for someone else to repair? Not a chance. He set about repairing the car himself, getting it back to almost-perfect condition – and he used his Haynes manual every step of the way.
Ryan loved his Haynes manual for both jobs, saying: “The wheel bearing was well documented with great visual aids and useful bits of information, and you can tell the author thoroughly thought through the steps they were carrying out in order to do the job.
“The only thing I can think of to make a note of is to make sure and double check that you have all the tools necessary to carry out a job. And always have a back-up set of sockets with a few 10mm spare (you can never have too many!).”
We couldn’t agree more. Having the correct tool for the job makes it so much easier. And there really is no substitute for having a Haynes manual by your side.
Every single Haynes manual and Autofix procedure is thoroughly researched, and each step-by-step guide tried and tested so that you can rely on it when you’re carrying out a fix at home.
We know all this, because all of us at Haynes enjoy sorting out our cars and motorcycles ourselves, and that’s why we want to see how you get on, too. And the good news is that lots of you enjoy twirling a few spanners (and the occasional hacksaw) while repairing and restoring your pride and joy.
We’d love you to follow in Ryan’s footsteps by showing us what you’re working on and how you’re using Haynes to help you out.
Just send us a few details about yourself and your vehicle to yourrepairs@haynes.co.uk
Let us know about any issues you’ve encountered or any problems you foresee, plus a few pictures, and we’ll feature you on our website and social channels.
