Safety Dance

June 13, 2022 8:05 AM

My car is making strange noises when I turn. Is it safe to drive it to a mechanic?

While pulling out of the driveway, my car suddenly started making groaning / creaking / popping noises from the wheel wells when I turned the wheel. I have an appointment to get the car looked at tomorrow. My question: is it safe to drive the car to the mechanic? The shop is a straight mile from my house with minimal turns. I live in a city so it would be difficult to pull the car over in case something catastrophic happens. I have terrible anxiety around driving in the best of times so my fear is that I’ll lose the ability to turn, accelerate or otherwise control the car. At the same time I’d rather avoid a tow since it is only a mile and I’m fine to make that drive if it is safe to do so.

I made two videos – one while the car is driving in reverse while slightly turning the wheel and one while turning the wheel when the car is stationary. I also found this broken metal ring under the front of the car.

posted by Diskeater to Travel & Transportation (22 answers total)

I cannot offer a diagnosis. However, the risk of a breakdown (resulting in further damage, perhaps) mid-trip argues for arranging a tow truck.
posted by John Borrowman at 8:24 AM on June 13, 2022

If you're nervous and would rather get a tow, one thing most people do not realize is that benefits are available with a AAA membership literally the moment your membership fee is charged. It looks like in the Philly area (which maybe you're in?) that runs $73 per year and includes 4 tows. So you could likely get the car towed to the shop quickly and for much less money than the cost of hiring a tow yourself.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:28 AM on June 13, 2022 [9 favorites]

I'd drive it to the mechanic (carefully, at low speed), personally, unless the tires were rubbing the wheel wells, it felt like the steering was super out of whack, or I was suddenly missing a bunch of power steering or brake fluid. It's probably a failing CV joint, broken sway bar link, or similar. Might disable the car if it took a big whack, but probably nothing that's going to kill anyone.

I would probably jack the car up and see if there was any play in the wheels if I really had no idea what was going on just to make sure they're not about to fall off, since that would make it impossible to get off the road without a tow vehicle.

If it were a longer distance on high speed roads my opinion would be different. Do keep in mind that you can always drive it around the block first to see if anything seems super hinky and call a tow truck if it seems like there is a problem that would prevent it from making it to the mechanic safely under its own power.
posted by wierdo at 8:32 AM on June 13, 2022

Regarding AAA, a heads up they are indeed good, but they sometimes will not cover a tow that originates in your own driveway. Just FYI (I had to call AAA for a tow that happened on our driveway, but which has an easement on someone else's land - after a few phone back-and-forths, they DID cover that)
posted by Ardnamurchan at 8:35 AM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: (Just to nip the AAA suggestion in the bud: I have a membership that I share with my family and we've already used three of the four tows this year. I don't want to use the last one for this since it's a mile and I'm fine to do that drive if it's safe).
posted by Diskeater at 8:40 AM on June 13, 2022

The noise you describe could be a bad CV joint. If it is, the car could become more dificult to steer, and if it fails while you're driving, you would coast to a stop. This has happened to me and everything turned out fine, but I definitely wouldn't recommend voluntarily putting yourself in that situation, especially in the city, and especially in light of your discomfort around driving it in this condition. I vote for getting it towed.

I'd also note that once I *thought* I had a bad CV joint but when I looked in the wheelwell it was clear the noise was coming from a piece of loose fender liner that made contact with the wheel when I turned. So maybe do a quick check to make sure that isn't what's happening here.
posted by pullayup at 8:40 AM on June 13, 2022

I would feel ok driving it a mile with the emergency lights on, going really slowly (like, not over 25 mph) in the right lane.
posted by coffeecat at 8:42 AM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

I would drive it, but why don't you send the videos and picture to the mechanic and ask them if you can drive it the mile to their shop?
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:53 AM on June 13, 2022 [4 favorites]

Pure guess but my first thought was CV joint also. I’d probably drive it, but I seem to have a higher tolerance for car problems than most people. I have driven 40 miles without brakes before (highway, manual transmission). But would I would do is drive at a time when there’s not much traffic, like midnight or 6am. The mechanic probably has a drop box for keys so that you can leave it for when they open.
posted by kevinbelt at 9:03 AM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

I would drive it -- slowly and at a low-traffic time of day. If it fails further on the way, you can call a tow from there, but most likely you will make it.
posted by Dip Flash at 9:17 AM on June 13, 2022

Can you corral a friend to follow you as backup while you drive slowly to the shop with hazard lights on?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:20 AM on June 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

1 mile? I'd drive it because the calling and waiting would turn a 5 minute drive into a 1 hour task. I also have nothing against AAA, but a single tow is like $40, and possibly less for a mile as long as it is not during rush hour.
posted by The_Vegetables at 10:17 AM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

I had a similar experience last summer. Some dirt likely got into the ball bearing. I chose to slowly drive it to the mechanic after hearing the sound when I got off the highway. I made it half of the three miles, before the ball bearing exploded and shot my tire off the truck. The mechanic described the sound as an airplane trying to take off.

A tow plus ball bearing change would’ve been much cheaper than the reconstruction I had to pay for. Your case may be different but a warning from Past Me.

Also, my friend offered to follow behind me and I’m so glad she didn’t, lest she have been involved when my truck lost the wheel. But she quickly came to get me!
posted by icaicaer at 10:58 AM on June 13, 2022

Your steering fluid might be low. Check that. If it is empty it might have drained out elsewhere. I'd say drive it, remember your emergency brake works as a brake with or without hydraulics, I know the fluids are different. Again I say the roadside assistance rider for your car insurance is sbout 7 bucks a year. It is the best money you wll spend.
posted by Oyéah at 12:36 PM on June 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

FWIW, your mechanic may be able to arrange a lower-cost tow if you don't have AAA. They often have existing deals better than you just calling someone from a phonebook.
posted by kschang at 1:04 PM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

I would drive it, but at a low traffic time so it will suck less if you need a two en route.
posted by metasarah at 1:23 PM on June 13, 2022

Put me on team tow, but that's mostly because I'm also an anxious driver and I'm definitely willing to pay a bit extra for the peace of mind that I'd have to not deal with the possibility of a breakdown on a busy street without shoulders/curb parking, not to mention the worry that driving it might make things worse even if I didn't break down.
posted by Aleyn at 3:23 PM on June 13, 2022

Best answer: That broken metal ring looks like a turn off a suspension spring. Is the diameter of the metal about 3/4 inch or slightly less? (I'm talking about the metal itself, not the shape it's formed in.
I've had this happen on two elderly Subarus, a BMW and a Honda. In one case, the broken end of the spring was digging into a tire, in the case of the BMW it caused no symptoms. (No, I don't do off roading, I just live in the rust belt, things rust and break.)
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 3:42 PM on June 13, 2022

Best answer: To clarify, If the remainder of a spring is digging into a tire, it's unsafe. Does it feel like the car rolls freely, or does it feel like the brakes are dragging? What can happen is that a turn of the spring breaks and falls off, the remaining spring on the car becomes improperly centered and skews towards the wheel/tire. This is really only an issue on a vehicle with a strut type suspension.)
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 3:52 PM on June 13, 2022

Check if any of your credit cards offer towing as part of roadside assistance. (See also: insurance policy add-ons; in this latter instance, I'd let the air out of a tire and have the car towed for that reason.)
posted by Iris Gambol at 6:57 PM on June 13, 2022

Having watched your video, the squeaky noise sounds like something is contacting your tire, which would make it unsafe to drive. If you can't look under the car and verify whether that's the case, you should have it towed.
posted by counterfeitfake at 3:06 AM on June 14, 2022

Response by poster: Update: My car-crazy friend strongly suspects suspension problems and said it would be ok to drive it the mile as long as the wheels were free to move and I took it slow. The mile drive took an hour thanks to Presidential traffic and it was bumpy, noisy and nerve-wracking but I and the car survived.
posted by Diskeater at 8:51 AM on June 14, 2022 [3 favorites]