ps2cho

So about 4 days ago car got towed....Said I was within 25ft of firelane w/e....

So I picked her up and got her home nad I noticed that at low speeds I could feel this tick/clunk....
So I took it to my local mechanic to check it out and he said that he couldn't find anything and thought it was just the brakes or tires.....


I'm not convinced...I mean it seems very strange after they towed it this starts happening. My shifts from park to drive have a different noise than before too. There used to be just the noise of plastic hitting plastic in the center console...but now it actually "ticks" from the transmission when changing.

Any thoughts?
I might take it somewhere and get a second opinion.

Rio Z Lander

if you can find where tuckers tires is over by saddleback college there is a good mb tech place there. there a bit much as price goes but they do very professional work.

kwontumspeed

Do you know if it was a flat bed?
Did he pull you out from the front or the rear?
Was your e-brake on?

My friend owns a reputable towing company in Atlanta.
They're directed to pull in any way possible if it is on public streets/areas, with no liability to them. If your e-brake was on, your tranny was protected. If not, there may have been some stress applied to it. Then again, the e-brake system may have been compromised if it was on, too. But hopefully you were towed out from the back of the car...

STLe320

Just hope that they knew it was a rear-wheel drive car..

ps2cho

Towed from behind. E-brake was not on!
Don't know how it was towed, only that it must have been from behind...

kwontumspeed

That's what sucks about parking illegally and being towed. The only thing the tow company is responsible for is removing the vehicle which is breaking the law, not what kind of car it is and the nature of the drivetrain. I've seen cars pulled from the front, as the rear wheels are locked in ebrake or tranny lock in order to extract it from its location. Fighting any damage that occurred in the process is a brick wall, because not only can you not prove it beyond it's circumstances, the law will always uphold that you were illegally parked.

If you got pulled from the back, there would be minimal, or if any, damage to the drivetrain. That's to say that nothing else happened between it being pulled from theback and dropped off at the impound...

ps2cho

I spun both front tires myself and there was no noises....so that should rule off possibly the brakes right?

What do you guys think I should do? Take it for a second opinion?

I mean honestly how exactly can they tell its the transmission as opposed to tires?

kwontumspeed

I'm not saying it's the transmission, I'm just noting one of the things that may get damaged when a car is being towed (along with mystery scratches and dents).

A good mechanic isn't going to "think" that it may be the brakes or tires, he's going to "know" it and pass that to you. So with that said, yes, go to another mechanic.

appatula

Flex disks would be my first thought, also the catalytic converter shield has a tendency to bend upward making contact with the driveshaft randomly
Try putting the rear up on jackstands, put the car into neutral (this is after you have chocked the front wheels of course) and spin the rear wheels by hand.... and listen.

ps2cho

The noise is coming from the front for sure. I can't pinpoint it though.

I replaced the flex disks about 2 years ago as the car when going from any gear to park tended to roll about 5 feet forward/backwards lol.
But another good idea....

I'm gonna take it to another mechanic probably later today.

ps2cho

Found it....

Mechanic saying "I think its a tire or brakes"....Didn't even bother to take a look. Now that I jacked it up myself to see if I could find anything look what I found:

I still have warranty on the tires so gonna go down to pepboys and see if they will replace them.



That's the front passenger side tire....How the hell could the Tow people manage to do that? I mean they dragged it from the rear....

kwontumspeed

It's not a 4matic is it?

appatula

GEDaggett

They routinely pull the front of the car away from the curb so as to get it away from the car parked in front of it so they can hook it up. That will shave the crap out of your tire.