Official Derailed thread... Wait, what?

SheepHugger · Aug 11, 2016

As a car mechanic what is the craziest discovery you have found on an automobile?

Eric Bradley, A lifetime of learning how things work
5.3k Views · Most Viewed Writer in Mechanic

The craziest thing I've ever found on a car in the shop has always been one thing. A loose nut behind the wheel. (You'll laugh once you get it)

I could fix just about anything on a vehicle, but as a prominent comedian once said, "you can't fix stupid."

I got an E63 AMG in off a tow truck with no brakes. Once I went to the car on the lot I found a destroyed spare on the right rear, fire damage to the suspension, and brake fluid leaking all over the ground. Once we pushed it in the shop I got a better picture of what and whom I was dealing with.

The original tire had gone flat and the client drove it until the tread separated and the rim came apart, so already off to a brilliant start. Then they put the spare on and continued driving. Here's the catch. They have a space saver spare, and to get it out they had to remove the bright blue air pump on the hold down, then mount the significantly smaller wheel on the car with bright yellow warning labels all over to inflate before driving. And no, they didn't inflate it.

Now it gets fun. The smaller circumference wheel has to turn faster to go the same speed as the others. This is recognized by the traction control as if the wheel were spinning, so it applies the brakes to control that wheel and backs off the throttle, all the while flashing a bright yellow warningon the instrument cluster and warning text, and on sustained application, rolling up windows and moving the passenger seat to prepare for imminent impact. But.... if you continue to stand on the throttle of a 500hp beast mode engine and disregard every warning and angry noise the car is throwing at you, it will keep going with the brake engaged.

In the end, the brake caught fire so significantly that the rotor shattered and embedded pieces in the spare rim, all of the bushings to the knuckle for the multilink rear end were burnt out, the wheel bearing seals and grease were burnt off, the parking brake cable housing melted, the electronics for the rear strut melted as well as the harness to the brake wear sensor, the fender liner caught fire, and the brake line burnt off.

A simple flat tire turned into a $12k+ repair, and on top of that, the other three remaining tires were so worn they each had about 4 inch width of steel belt showing and the customer declined to replace them.

Before and after... you're welcome!

https://www.quora.com/As-a-car-mech...-found-on-an-automobile/answer/Eric-Bradley-6

Lardaltef · Aug 11, 2016

Holy shit.

SheepHugger · Aug 11, 2016

Lardaltef said: ↑

Holy shit.
Click to expand...

And at the end of day the guy refuses to replace the worn out tires?

Somehow I see some mechanic somewhere eventually coming across a guy who's suffered three tires driven out all the way to the axis.

Iron Fang · Aug 11, 2016

SheepHugger said: ↑

As a car mechanic what is the craziest discovery you have found on an automobile?

Eric Bradley, A lifetime of learning how things work
5.3k Views · Most Viewed Writer in Mechanic

The craziest thing I've ever found on a car in the shop has always been one thing. A loose nut behind the wheel. (You'll laugh once you get it)

I could fix just about anything on a vehicle, but as a prominent comedian once said, "you can't fix stupid."

I got an E63 AMG in off a tow truck with no brakes. Once I went to the car on the lot I found a destroyed spare on the right rear, fire damage to the suspension, and brake fluid leaking all over the ground. Once we pushed it in the shop I got a better picture of what and whom I was dealing with.

The original tire had gone flat and the client drove it until the tread separated and the rim came apart, so already off to a brilliant start. Then they put the spare on and continued driving. Here's the catch. They have a space saver spare, and to get it out they had to remove the bright blue air pump on the hold down, then mount the significantly smaller wheel on the car with bright yellow warning labels all over to inflate before driving. And no, they didn't inflate it.

Now it gets fun. The smaller circumference wheel has to turn faster to go the same speed as the others. This is recognized by the traction control as if the wheel were spinning, so it applies the brakes to control that wheel and backs off the throttle, all the while flashing a bright yellow warningon the instrument cluster and warning text, and on sustained application, rolling up windows and moving the passenger seat to prepare for imminent impact. But.... if you continue to stand on the throttle of a 500hp beast mode engine and disregard every warning and angry noise the car is throwing at you, it will keep going with the brake engaged.

In the end, the brake caught fire so significantly that the rotor shattered and embedded pieces in the spare rim, all of the bushings to the knuckle for the multilink rear end were burnt out, the wheel bearing seals and grease were burnt off, the parking brake cable housing melted, the electronics for the rear strut melted as well as the harness to the brake wear sensor, the fender liner caught fire, and the brake line burnt off.

A simple flat tire turned into a $12k+ repair, and on top of that, the other three remaining tires were so worn they each had about 4 inch width of steel belt showing and the customer declined to replace them.

Before and after... you're welcome!

https://www.quora.com/As-a-car-mech...-found-on-an-automobile/answer/Eric-Bradley-6
Click to expand...

If this happened in upstate NY, in a gold 1979 Z-28 back in 1990's and the driver was named "Tiffany". I know who this is.