posted 11/18/17
The Grand Am -- which is my primary vehicle these days since my Subarus are having various difficulties - started to make some very alarming metallic screeching noises from the front driver side wheel as Mary and I were coming home from church last weekend. I thought perhaps it was just a loose brake or a broken brake bolt, something easy to fix.
Didn't have time to look at it on Sunday, though, as we were Skyping with James and then Mary needed to be driven back to school. So I put a hold on things til Monday.
The next day, after work -- I still had to work! -- I jacked up the car (with the jack that Dad bought me!) and pulled off the wheel to take a look.
Hmmm.
It doesn't appear to be a brake issue.
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| There's something a-missing here... |
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| Still missing! |
I've never had to replace a sway bar link before and wasn't sure how to order one. So I went online and tried to find it by searching for "sway bar". NAPA had it, of course, so I ordered one for $150. Drove over to the store and picked it up, but didn't feel like putting it on that night so thought I'd wait til the next day (Tuesday).
Got up Tuesday and took a look at the sway bar kit again and got a little curious when I realized that the only piece I really needed was the bolt that ties the sway bar to the support bar, and decided to do a search on "sway bar link" instead. Surprise! They had it for $15. So I ordered 2 (one for each side, as I figured that they need to be replaced in pairs), then drove down to NAPA and returned the sway bar kit and grabbed the 2 links.
Got home again and realized (!!) that the sway bar links come in sets of 2 per box, so I didn't really need the 2nd box. But ... spare parts.
Meanwhile, I installed the links and took the car for a test drive.
And it was still making that awful metallic screeching noise. From the front driver side. Now I was frustrated. What could it be? If it isnt' the brakes and it isn't the sway bar, there aren't many other things it could be.
Now I was getting anxious. I have to fly back to Tucson on Thursday morning (6 am) so there isn't time to fool around here.
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But first, a bit of Halloween. We're very traditional about that. We always have a bowl of candy by the door, someone is assigned to hand it out to all the kids who show up, and we always watch "Arsenic and Old Lace" with Cary Grant.
This year, I got the assignment of handing out the candy, and Lex (Adam's friend) came over to watch the movie with us. Having guests to enjoy the show always makes it more fun! And I had a fantastic time passing out the candy. And trying hard not to eat any of it myself. We actually managed to get rid of most of it this year. But there was still some left over, so when the movie had ended, I took a quick trip over to Deb's place to visit. To give them the candy. Because otherwise we would eat it. And I would get fat(ter). Also, it was fun to visit because Halloween is Mason's favorite holiday.
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On Wednesday, there was no time to waste. I dropped the car off at Firestone so they could figure it out what was wrong, and fix it, because it is imperative that the car is available for Adam to drive while I'm gone in Arizona.
Turns out it was the wheel bearing. Which made sense. But I wasn't about to spend all day changing out a wheel bearing. Although I had actually replaced that one only a year ago when I put the new steering knuckle in. [I have to believe I didn't put it in wrong. Because the car drove fine for nearly a year. But there's always the sneaking suspicion that I screwed it up.]
Firestone was able to fix it for a bit more than I really wanted to pay, but there was no time to haggle. Time was a precious commodity. True to their word, they fixed it in only a couple hours, so we were able to pick it up late this afternoon -- and it drove wonderfully. Quietly. Safely.
Which means I can fly out to Tucson again without anxiety. Yay!
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