So last night I was driving in the Pao, still gleeful from finally getting it back after over a year out of service due to hitting that deer, when I drove over some railroad tracks, felt a horrible jolt, then stopped moving. Getting out, things looked like what you see above: a wheel in very much the wrong place. What the hell happened?
Rolling underneath, I saw that the control arm that the mechanic replaced – a mechanic that specializes in JDM cars, I should note – seems to have come off, somehow. This shouldn’t happen. David thinks perhaps a locking ring was forgotten, or something like that. I’m just happy I was going so slow when it happened, because if that control arm decided to stop, you know, controlling while I was on a highway or even going, say, 40 mph or so in traffic, things could have gone way, way worse.
I do like how the lights formed those stripes in that picture up there, though. I don’t like how the oil pan seems to have cracked when it smacked the ground as the control arm fell off, though.
I have to say my confidence in this mechanic is severely eroded. First I found an old, cracked hose on the brand-new radiator that was causing a coolant leak, and now my wheel pretty much fell off. I’m gonna have to have a stern conversation here today, and I am not a fan of those. Oy.
Ya picked a fine time to leave me, Loose Wheel!
I had the same issue regarding my mechanic. First they messed a cracked spring in an inspection- it was resting on the control arm rather than the mount. It didn’t affect stability since it’s a double wishbone, but the weird noises prompted me to check. The last stream was after replacing said spring, they didn’t tighten my tie rod leading to some potentially accident-causing stability issues on the highway. And yet they specialized in German cars!
Ouch that’s a big deal!! Definitely lucky it happened when going slow. holycrapholycrap