I was helping a friend replace the front control arms and bushings on his E36 M3 over the weekend. The E36 control arms are a bit unusual: they fasten to the knuckle and to one point on the subframe with ball joints. The rear mounting point on the control arm is a shaft that is set into a bushing; that bushing’s carrier bolts to the frame.

We were planning to use a ball joint press to remove the bushing from the carrier. But the combination of the carrier and the necessary rings and plates proved to be too tall to fit the press. Our solution: that simple but trusted friend, the 10lb sledgehammer. We supported the carrier with a metal ring, used another as a die, and quickly beat the bushing out.

Learning to trust the sledgehammer is an important step in becoming a successful mechanic, whether you’re a pro, a shady-tree mechanic, an occasional do-it-yourselfer, or a casual car guy that just wants to be able to do more than change your oil and top off your fluids. To trust the sledgehammer, you must come to grips with the dumb resiliency of your car. A car, ultimately, is a dumb, smelly, stupid beast that needs to be whacked around every once in a while.

When I do a vacuum hose reduction (a simplification project that removes some unnecessary emissions systems and cleans up the engine bay) on a 3000GT or Stealth turbo, for instance, I start with a knife and a garbage barrel. All I’m doing is cutting hoses; if I cut the wrong hose by accident, I just put in a new hose. If I cut a wire, I grab the soldering iron or a butt connector.

I’m not recommending a reckless or cavalier approach to mechanical work. On the contrary, trusting the sledgehammer requires you to know what parts of a car can be abused and what parts ought not to be abused. It also requires confidence—confidence that, sometimes, can only be gained from being ambitious making mistakes. If you are afraid of your car, if you can’t think of it as clunky, lifeless machine, you’ll have a hard time ever trusting the sledgehammer.

The next time you’re in the middle of an unfamiliar or difficult job and things start to go get difficult, remind yourself that it’s just metal and plastic. Whatever you might break, you can fix. Then take out your sledgehammer—whatever it is—and pummel that car like the blockheaded beast it is.