Dear JB,
    I drive a 1995 BMW 740il which is also driving me - NUTS!  Things have gotten so bad that I am beginning to envy Volkswagen owners!  To begin with I paid a fortune for this little beauty and assumed I would have years of trouble free driving, but for the last two years I've had a squeak that has driven me crazy.  Any time I am in a hard turn in either direction AND applying the brakes I get this squeaky and embarrassing loud noise from the front end of my car.  This is totally unacceptable to me since most of what you pay for one of these things is for the image anyway.  So far my garage has replaced the tie rod ends, the ball joints and the steering gear - all to no avail, so there's a couple thousand more dollars down the tube.  GRRR!

signed,
Burning My Wallet

Dear Burning,
    The shop was dancing all around the problem, it's a shame they didn't step on it.  The fact that you must be braking AND turning to hear the noise narrows it down to the brakes.  More specifically, the brake calipers.  Brake calipers have rubber

insulating bushings where they attach to the car to control this kind of noise.  Those bushings are worn out on your car letting the metal part of the calipers rub against another part called the steering knuckle.  The part that the hard turn plays in the problem is that the brake hoses are stretched to their limit and are pulling the caliper into the knuckle.  Go ahead and replace the calipers, pads and rotors.  And the next time you buy something to boost your image just invest in a new pair of Oakley sunglasses.

Dear JB,
    My problem should be simple to fix, but no one has been able to.  Maybe you can help.  On my 1995 Land Rover Discovery the rear windows don't work.  They both stopped working at the same time, so

surely it isn't two bad window motors, do you think?  The fuses are good and someone mentioned something about the windows being powered through a computer.  I can't really afford to buy one of these computers just to try.  Is there some way I can verify this problem first?  (As you can tell I work on my own vehicle.)
signed,
Red Rover

Dear Red,

    I agree, the worst way to begin any repair on your car is by replacing all the computers.  As I recall the window electronic control unit (ECU) for a Discovery is over $600 which makes it not a good candidate for the let's-see-if-it-fixes-it approach.  However, the problem in your case is a bad circuit board in that ECU, but since you like to do your own work I'm going to cut you a break on this one.  Remove the window control unit from behind the glove compartment and disassemble it.  You are going to find a loose solder joint on the circuit board.  Ten cents worth of solder is going to send those windows zipping up and down again like new.

JB can be seen each Thursday morning on WDEF-TV News 12's Morning Show at 7:30 A.M. where he answers your car questions.  He can also be heard Saturday Mornings 7-9 on Talk Radio 102.3 FM on the Saturday Morning Garage.  He spends the rest of his time taking advantage of helpless motorists at North Shore Auto Repair in Chattanooga.  E-mail JB at jeepster1515@yahoo.com to have your car care question answered in this column.