Something that has warmed my heart through this rough winter is the fact that our readers are some of the greatest car enthusiasts you’ll ever meet. It’s not just that you read all of the words spat out on this website, but you’ll drive hundreds of miles just to eat cold pizza with us. So many of you even donated $27,686 to help Jason Torchinsky get back on his feet. Josh is one of those heroic readers who tried to brave the freezing winter to say hi to his favorite Autopians. He drove his Saab 9-2X from Michigan and made it all of the way to West Virginia before a wheel bearing failed in spectacular fashion, leaving him stranded and with a $1,600 repair bill.
Before I continue, Josh did get back home thanks to his mom. But his car remains stuck in West Virginia. The shop fixing his Saabaru won’t be able to get Josh’s car back on the road until Friday. That’s one problem. The other is how to get back to West Virginia. Local Michigan rental car agencies either don’t offer one-way rentals or don’t even have any vehicles available for rental. As of writing, our reader is facing two options to rescue his Saabaru: Rent a one-way U-Haul truck, which will cost several hundred dollars, or take a Greyhound there, which will require some planning and maybe some missed work. So, if you can lend a hand in some way, I’m sure Josh would be thankful.
Let’s use Detroit as an example here. Josh went on a serious road trip for the inaugural North Carolina Autopian Meetup and Changli Rodeo. That’s over 10 hours of driving and at least a hike of 650 miles! Again, it blows my mind how much you awesome people want to hang out with us.
The Saabaru Fails
At around midnight on January 21, Josh, who goes by JShaawbaru on Opposite-lock, posted this saddening story:
Long story short, I was trying to go to the Autopian meetup in North Carolina on Sunday, and like the idiot I am, took the Saabaru instead of the Prius. I’m now stuck in Beckley, WV, where nothing is open on Sunday, not even a rental car place, so I can’t just drop the car off at a shop, go home, and come back for it next weekend when it’s hopefully fixed. Really not sure what I’m going to do, since I don’t have the tools I would need to pull the entire knuckle off, and even then, still wait until Monday for a shop to be able to press the bearing out (at least that seems to be the procedure from the quick search I did).
Everything was going great for the first 6 hours, until something in the front end started to feel a bit funny, but I was in the absolute middle of nowhere, so I kept driving. Eventually I had no choice but to stop, because something was making the steering unpredictable to a point that it was too dangerous to continue at any kind of speed.
I pulled into a gas station, and everything underneath looked fine, but then I noticed the driver side front wheel was covered in metal bits, and the wheel was sitting at a very wonky angle. I’m now at a hotel, with a shop about a mile away, but they aren’t open until Monday, of course, aside from their towing service.
Josh’s Saabaru chose a terrible place to break down, as there were no Oppos within close distance. Still, the denizens from one of the coolest car enthusiast boards on the net worked together to find solutions. A user going by Black-Villain found a Subaru Impreza parts car on Facebook Marketplace. However, Josh was in a tight spot. He brought along a basic Craftsman tool set and needed tools such as a jack, a 32mm socket, a breaker bar, and potentially other tools to get the job done.
Not to mention, this is a job that would have required Josh to potentially Uber to different stores to buy the tools, Uber to the Facebook seller with the parts car, remove the part from the parts car, race back to his car, remove the part from his car, and then finally install the used part. Josh would have to do that in the blistering cold, working with rusty fittings, and do it all while hoping the part from the Facebook seller would be in good condition.
One question is how did the bearing fail so fast in the first place? If you’ve had a bearing go bad in a car, you know they usually take thousands of miles to fail, not really the span of a single trip. Well, we’re still not sure yet as the shop working on the vehicle still has to do the work, but Josh offers more context:
I don’t think any work has been done on that corner that involved that axle nut. I did have the other bearing replaced years ago though. I have a feeling it’s been going bad all day, but I was listening to music too loud to hear it. I did hear something an hour or so earlier, but it was just for a second when I was turning, and then it went away, so I didn’t think much of it at the time. Even then though, I wasn’t really near much, so stopping then instead of now wouldn’t have changed much.
Ultimately, Josh decided to let a shop handle the job. He noted that between all of the tool and part purchases plus the cost to have Uber drivers take him all over the place, he probably wouldn’t be saving any money by suffering in the cold. Another Oppo with experience in working with the Saabaru platform, MM54, noted that tearing into a wheel bearing job is not something you would want to do in a freezing parking lot.
The Challenge
Again, our reader is alive, well, and home thanks to some pizza and a rescue from his mom. Now he has to get the car back. But that isn’t about to happen without bad news delivered from the shop:
First call, they told me they got the bearing out but weren’t sure they could get a new one in, and that the brake caliper was seized, which is definitely plausible, since when I did pads and rotors 5 years ago, the slide pins were stuck, and my un-sticking process probably didn’t lead to a condition that would survive long-term. I told them to go ahead and do the work.
Second call was to let me know that the knuckle was not able to be reused and that they couldn’t find a replacement since it’s a “older car” and a Saab. They also mentioned a couple other bearing-adjacent parts were bad, so even if they found a knuckle it might not be worth fixing. I told them that the knuckle would interchange with a Subaru Impreza of the same year, so they said they would look into that, and give me a quote for all the work if they could verify the knuckle was the same.
Third call was the rough one. They were able to find a knuckle, but with all the parts, and their worst-case scenario on the labor side, the quote was $16XX.XX.
Sadly we don’t have pictures of the carnage, at least not yet. That’s $1,600 to repair a rusty car that was acquired for $1,200. A lot of people would tell the shop to scrap the car, but Josh wants to save a Saab 9-2X from the graveyard if he could. So, he authorized the shop to do the work. Josh’s bank account and wallet will hate him, but the glorious Saabaru will keep on living. Besides, look at it like this, any $1,600 car you’ll find for sale in the Midwest right now will almost certainly be a rustbucket with who knows what problems. At least Josh knows what’s wrong with this car.
As of right now, Josh does have a plan. Upon confirmation that the car can be fixed, he’ll purchase a ticket for a Greyhound bus, either call off work or take a half day, then ride the Greyhound from Detroit to Beckley before driving back home. So, the car will get back home! Of course, If any of you have any suggestions, I’m sure Josh would love them.
Otherwise, what a legend! You guys rock. All of you readers are total rockstars. For Josh, we hope everything goes well for you! We’ll update this post if the shop sends pictures of the carnage involved.
(Images: Josh, unless otherwise noted.)
I have never go funded anyone before, but I made a small donation. “suggested tip”?? I mean, I get that somebody has to keep the operation running, but tipping culture is way beyond out of control.
Rent a u-haul with car trailer and round-trip it that way?
I had no idea there was a NC Autopian meet up. I would have made the drive up from Wilmington. Could have doubled as visiting my parents too
You made your bed, so . . .
That is why I never make my bed, you are going to mess up your bed later that day, why bother making it look neat.
The RF bearing on my 02 wrx went bad largely due to a sticking caliper. But I also abuse it on gravel.
Wish I had PTO left: I’d take Friday to come convey you from the bus station & commiserate. I’ll chuck some OT pay at the fund instead.
Bus rides are interesting. I did 26 hours from NO to SW Va in 09. Brought a large book, peanuts, and lots of jerky. Gotta be open to whatever weirdness comes your way and it’ll work out.
Scot
added: limit intake the day before and on the bus until you know how bad the bathroom is. Just sayin 😉 (That’s why I took jerky: wasn’t my first ride)
Maybe the caliper was a contributing factor in my case too, since that’s on the replacement list too. It was bad enough at the end that I didn’t even need to brake to come to a stop at the low speeds I was going, but figured it was all coming from the wheel bearing.
There are a reasonable number of stops so I should be able to avoid the on-bus bathroom, but I’ll definitely be playing it safe to avoid unexpected unpleasantries. ????
Thanks for the funding!
I’ll take this unsolicited opportunity to bag on Saab. Had a 2000 9-5 wagon in 2011 that I bought with only 95k miles for $5k. Absolute pile of garbage. Went through two ignition cassettes, two (TWO!) turbos, and a host of other parts in six months. $4k in repairs later, I sold if for $4k and bought an off lease Honda Civic for $12k.
I did love the blackout feature on the interior gauges and the wagon form, though. Shame it was so unreliable
Bought a 2000 9-5 wagon in CT. Flew up from VA. Picked up the car, stayed at a hotel, drive back the next day. Driving to VA it started to shudder, like the engine was having issues. Called the people I bought it from, no issues on their end. Finally it smoothed out. Just a fluke, I thought.
Wrong. The thing was cursed. Alarm would go off for no reason. Would run great on gas from BP but horrible on other gas station brands or something like that. Other just weird crap would go wrong but intermittently and you never knew when or where or what would happen. A/C crapped out driving to Baltimore during a heat wave. My wife christened it the Spaz-Wagon. My local place that did the work on my 900 convertible said they couldn’t figure it out, that I had to take it to the SAAB dealer (when that existed.). Estimate for repair was over $4k. Bought the thing for $2k. Traded it in the next day, thankfully it ran fine during the dealer’s test drive.
Still miss the blackout gauges and it was one of the more comfortable cars I’ve driven. Thankfully my wife still misses the old 900 convertible, so that’s on the list for someday.
Are blackout features really that uncommon?
On my 2012 Prius v, if I have the headlights on and turn the dimmer wheel all the way down, everything except the indicators (headlights, warning lights, cruise control indicator, etc.) and weirdly, the gear indicator turn off. But that includes every light and button on the dash too.
I don’t know if I tried it myself, but my ’97 Econoline could be dimmed too. Not sure if I ever tried it while driving at night, but I don’t see why not.
Lot of more modern cars don’t seem to have them at all. Or limit it
The Saab blackout feature isn’t just dimming the backlight of the gauges, it actually turns them off, with the exception of the speedometer (wouldn’t know if anything else stays lit, but the idea was that the strain on the eyes would be lower, and it would be easier to focus on the road). Also if there’s anything ‘of interest’ happening (like the water temperature approaching the red, or a low charge from the alternator, for example), the gauges will light up automatically.
I mean, yeah. The dimming in my van or my Prius would go all the way down to completely off. I don’t see how that’s different. (Well, again, a handful of things stay on in the Prius, but it still represents like 90% fewer light sources/brightness from the dash.)
Saab introduced this feature in the early 90s, if I remember correctly, and it was pretty unique back then. Certainly not as revolutionary or amazing as the marketing department made it seem like (I remember an ad from back then), but unique nevertheless (for passenger cars).
The way you describe it, it seems as if other brands have implemented similar features, which isn’t surprising, it’s a useful feature that doesn’t add any complexity. I certainly am happy to dim the dashboard to the minimum at night, I do feel it’s easier on the eyes.
Hope everything works out. Glad to hear the Saabaru is getting repaired. I owned that same car from 2011-16 when I lived in Grand Rapids. Ended up selling it to a guy in northern Indiana. Would be absolutely wild if that my was old car.
I had an engine rebuild on mine after the timing belt idler grenaded outside of Lansing on the way to Ann Arbor. Still have the bent valves in a box somewhere.
I bought it from a guy near Howell in 2019, it’s kind of funny that I ended up with it because it has a dealer sticker on the hatch from the closest former Saab dealer to me. I had to take another Saabaru there for the airbag recall, and they still had a big Saab logo painted on the back wall of the service area.
Not the same car then, just a good looking twin. I always love seeing them on the road still cruising around.
wheels that look like they have 0mm offset on a weak ass Subaru bearing that comes on the 5x100m what could go wrong? This is just as bad as the lifted pickups with the wheels sticking out way past the fenders. Stock on those cars the offset for the 6.5″ wide wheel is 51mm and the 7″ is 55mm. This is like adding a 2″ spacer to stock wheels.
Add constant hum from the winter tires and loud music and of course you can’t hear the bearing screaming for its life. I have yet to have a Subaru that never needed a wheel bearing replacement.
The bearing on the other side failed 2 weeks before I bought the wheels that are currently on it, so apparently they do fail even with a stock wheel and tire setup. It took another 20k+ miles for this one to fail, so while the offset is nowhere near stock, and probably did lead to somewhat premature failure, I don’t think it contributed as much as you think it did.
I find it interesting how many auto mechanics don’t make the connection regarding mechanical twin automobiles. Impreza and the 9-2. Vibe and Matrix. And so on. Yet, they know that if they file off a nubbin on a GM rear suspension piece, they can install it on another GM brand that is 7 years younger or some crap like that. On the front suspension. Meanwhile twin parts are direct swaps unless it’s a cosmetic piece.
My thoughts exactly when I read the line: “since it’s a “older car” and a Saab”.
But what do I know? I’ve only got a Mazda B series, an MX6 and two Prizms in my driveway.
The Saabaru I can understand a little better, since they only made around 10,000 of them, and they’re coming up on 20 years old, so there aren’t a lot out there. I’d think mechanics that have been around a while would be aware though. I’m just glad they looked into it and decided it was worth trying, and didn’t just say no.
Of course they didn’t say no.
Boondocks mechanics train for this exact scenario.
You’re gonna have to marry one of their sisters now.
If you want to make it out of town alive, car intact…
It’s the price you pay in that neck of middle Americas back woods.
I live in those woods and we’re much more subtle these days.
I think I’ve seen maybe 2 or 3 Saabarus in the wild in my whole life!
Crud, I’ve owned 2 of them. 06 Turbo is my current daily driver. I have all the cosmetic pieces to make a 3rd one out of an impreza or completely rebuild mine should it prove necessary all sitting in storage! Way to be Josh, keep it alive!
I have strongly considered a Saabaru as a daily, even though I currently drive a 2002 Lexus, it seems kind of late in the game to start with one.
Best of luck with the Saabaru repair. Quite the spendy cross platform adventure. I went by Greyhound bus a few times when much younger. I am guessing it hasn’t changed much. You won’t get killed, but you may be expanding your social horizons a bit.
The bus struck me as the riskiest part of this venture also. No matter the scenery, a multi-hour bus trip will definitely make some memories.
Just an FYI, if you ever need a one way rental and one isn’t available, rent one with a return at the same place. Head towards your destination and call their customer service line and let them know their counter person “made an error” and that you’ll be dropping the car off at your destination. Never had an issue with Enterprise, Hertz, or Avis doing this.
I did think about trying that, since they would let me book a rental with the same pickup and drop-off location, but I didn’t want to run into any issues where they’d try to tack on an excessive one-way fee or something like that. But if I’m ever in a situation where there is absolutely no alternative, I’d consider giving it a shot.
I sometimes get a $50 fee depending on how far it is. I’ve had to make the drive from Minneapolis to Milwaukee a few times due to weather cancelling my flight and it’s never been much of an issue.
Hope you get a ride out the car, if I wasn’t traveling for work I’d happily lend a hand!
Absolutely incredible news: we’ve cleared FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS already!! What an amazing community.
You can take the Amtrack to Thurmond, WV. Formerly the least used Amtrack station in America! But train people are weird, and now they go because of that. Also it’s in the middle of soon to be Americas’s next national park. So getting a taxi might be hard. But bring your hiking shoes, and 10 miles of scenic trail and you’re on the outskirts of Beverly!
Absolutely do not go to Thurmond, WV (population:3). it’s a ghost town. I’ve seen some pretty nice train videos by a youtuber named Jawtooth taken there. But he got there and left there under his own power. And it was warm outside. And what with it being winter and all, a 10 mile hike in January is not advisable!
Yeah I think the 1.3 mile hike from the shop to my hotel was enough, 10 miles might be a bit much, even though I’m trying to get my step numbers up this year. If it was nicer out and I had more time though, that wouldn’t sound too bad.
Amtrak was considered, but it’s more expensive than the bus, and doesn’t have any trains departing from Detroit on Friday that are headed to the right area. Leaving Friday and arriving Saturday morning is key to the whole operation.
Thurmond is a cool place (and the dirt roads near it are awesome!), but yeah… that’s a summer time, DAYLIGHT hours kind of place. I drove about 5 miles into the hills in an Accord on a one car wide dirt road once before I realized that if something went sideways, no one would find me for weeks. Made a 60 point U-Turn and got out of there.
Agreed in summer the Thurmond station is really cool and not a terrible hike up to the highway/main road in good weather, not sure if I would make the trek with ice & snow on the road (not sure if it is 10 miles – but maybe 4 or 5 to the ACE Adventure Resort). That area of the world is beautiful – definitely worth a stop in better weather – and spectacular whitewater rafting. The station before or after may be a good stop where you can likely get an Uber/ride to the shop.
I have a pair of lightly used reman 2004 WRX front brake calipers with nearly-new brackets/slide pins just sitting in my garage. I could ship them over if it were feasible.
If I was doing the work myself that would definitely be helpful! I appreciate the thought. The shop likely wants to use all known new parts, and has obtained or ordered everything already in this case.
I’d like to nominate JShaawbaru as the most Autopian of Autopian members.
Hear, hear!
Did you try railroad trip? Also get on with 1 trucker you can get to your destination free.
That sounds like a plot of a hackneyed horror movie.
I am sure there has been one done but I haven’t seen it yet.
Oh and as far as the pictures of the carnage, the shop won’t be sending any, but they are saving the parts for me, so I’ll have some on Friday, and post them on the Autopian discord server, and have to make another oppo post.
oooh discord, that’s a much smarter way to get in touch 1:1. It animates a bunch of emojis at me, I turn it off, and I forget about it for literal years at a time
“Besides, look at it like this, any $1,600 car you’ll find for sale in the Midwest right now will almost certainly be a rustbucket with who knows what problems. At least Josh knows what’s wrong with this car.”
And this in my view is the correct take. Yes, more than the car is theoretically worth, but that’s not what it’s worth to Josh, because he knows what else is going on with the car. You can look at it as though the car were totaled and he’s replacing it – and with a car he knows what he’s getting into, as opposed to some unknown vehicle.
Been a long time since I took a long bus ride, but my recollection was they were very boring, not dangerous (that’s more likely for local inner-city transport I would think).
https://gofund.me/a323f5f9
That is awesome! I’m infinitely grateful to anyone that can contribute, but if it goes the same way as the last GoFundMe I was attached to and it ends up with $100 (or less) in it at the end, I’ll still be more than happy just that it exists.
I’m hoping we can at least take some of the sting out of the repairs! Plus, Greyhounds aren’t that bad. I found a complete collection of torn-off fingernail ends in the windowsill, talked to a trucker about how trucking wasn’t so bad, if a bit lonely, and learned that convicts without other personal effects are released in prison whites instead of orange!
The 2014 Fiesta I used to own (which I sold to my mom, and was used to come get me) had a bunch of fingernail bits on the dash when I bought it, so I should be able to survive such an ordeal.
Thank you for doing it! I’m too embarrassed to be the one again. 🙂
Absolutely! Obvs this won’t be the Autopian Fix-It Slush Fund, but it was a great effort and the story deserves a redemption arc. Also, editors, if you see this, let’s facilitate a DM somehow so the funds we collect make it back to JShaawbaru 🙂
Please change the name to Save the Saabaru! Not for me, but just because it’s so perfect. 😀
It should be changed!
Also, we’ve already knocked out 10% of the goal! Incredible!
I should mention that I will always make any play on Save the Children I can. I think because of it’s use as a universal excuse for culture wars.
I’m closer to the destination than the start, so the only logical logistical thing I can do is put a little money in the fund if Josh has something set up, but I’m happy to put some bucks in for this valiant effort. Plus I’d really prefer the Saab stay on the road.
It’s really weird to read an article that’s about something that happened to me! It’s really cool to see though.
I do have a backup-backup option of my mom driving me down *again*, but she’d have to miss a day of work, and of course spend that entire day on the road. I really don’t want to take her up on that offer, so I’ll likely stick to the Greyhound plan and miss work on Friday. I never would have even thought of that, I don’t know what the chances are that there’s a Greyhound station *1.8 miles from the shop* but that’s the case here. I’m a little worried about the reported sketchiness of riding a Greyhound bus, but I feel like it’s probably the way to go at this point.
Busses are not dangerous sketchy, they are mind-bendingly weird life experiences sketchy.
Will you die? Nah.
Will you have somebody tell you weirdly intimate details of their latest liver operation until you want to die? Maybe?
Embrace the weird and enjoy the stories of human weirdness you can tell for the rest of your life.
See that’s the kind of thing I need to hear. I can deal with that kind of sketchy. That kind of sketchy, if anything, has the potential to be interesting and make the trip go by faster.
Will you die? Maybe? In Canada.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Tim_McLean
On the plus side, you may end up killing him because you’re a little unhealthy.
Ah, so *that’s* the “terrible NSFL incident” that someone mentioned. At least I hope it is, I wouldn’t want something like that to be even a rare occurrence.
As a reformed Canadian, you never know… 😀
The buses are also sometimes poorly maintained and dirty, which only adds to the mind-bending experience. I spent most of a Greyhound ride between Flagstaff and Phoenix wondering what the orange mushy substance on the seat next to me was.
I am thankful when bus stains are not white and crusty.
True story I once almost sat in a seat full of blood on the CTA…
This! Hahahaha
Having ridden many a Greyhound bus for many years out of necessity, from the Florida panhandle to the Canadian arctic I can assure you.
Shit can get weird real quick.
That’s why I always carry a hunting knife with me on said excursions.
Can’t be too safe.
Side note. It’s way too easy to change your legal name in North America.
I’ve had many interesting experiences riding the dirty dog. Probably not appropriate for this site though.
You’ll be fine. I might go so far as to say that Greyhound is Autopian Class Travel. 😉
Beach towel seat cover ftw
Yes, I am indeed tempted to try a GoFundMe for this hero. Is this one of those situations? There has to be a limit on the amazing generosity of the members, but I don’t want to find that limit.
Replying to myself here. I donated to Mechjaz’s fundraiser and You could too.
Save the Saabaru Fundraiser!