After my Dynasty I ended up getting a Chevy Beretta. I wanted to get rid of that car ASAP since I don't like working on the 3.1L engine they cramped into that engine so I sold it to my sister and saved up a little for a newer car. I ended up seeing a 1997 Cirrus with some exterior defects. Come to find out, the previous owner was checking the oil, latched the hood (didn't slam it shut), and took it for a spin. The hood flew up on the highway doing 60mph, cracked the window, and crumpled the hood like a piece of paper. The hood doesn't look as bad as it sounds, and it still functions properly, but it's more of a cosmetic thing than anything. However, the windshield had to definitely get replaced.

I talked the owner into letting it go for 800 bucks, which I thought was a steal. Little did I know, there were plenty of hidden problems. Firstly, once the engine gets warm enough, the oil light starts to flicker and stay on once it's warm enough. Most of you know, an engine with low oil pressure will start to knock in no time. However I lucked out in that it's the OPSU (oil pressure sending unit); 10 dollar fix, easy. Then there's a abnormal sound coming from the front end. I take off the center cap for the driver side rim and I see that there's a nut missing from the wheel... wait, take a closer look... the stud is missing. So I replace that, and the noise still isn't gone. Ends up that wheel bearing is trashed. After 100 bucks later, the wheel bearing and tie rod end on the driver side is replaced. Noise gone. I can hear my stereo now. While fixing all that, I notice a small rip in the driver side lower ball joint. Guess what? The lower ball joint isn't servicable. The whole lower control arm needs to be replaced in that event. Excellent. And i'm starting to hear the same bad wheel bearing noise again, but it's not as loud and it doesn't sound like it's coming from the front. No better time to learn how to replace suspension components than now.