Those of you who know me, know how much I love my car. (See: I’m Scared of My Car for a refresher). So a couple of weeks ago I started noticing odd noises coming from the back of the car. Sort of a squeaking sound, not unlike the sound my computer chair makes when I lean too far backward in it. Even Carrie started hearing the noise about a week ago – so I know I’m not crazy, it’s getting worse. At first, we thought that there was something rolling and banging around in the trunk. I checked and repacked the spare tire and jack. Still noisy. I moved all the crap we keep in the trunk around a little and tried to recreate the noise by shaking things. Nothing.
Well, today it was warmer outside, so we drove around with the windows cracked open and – holy shit! You can really hear it with the windows down! The car itself drives fine, but this noise can’t be normal.
In a fit of desperation, we drove to Firestone in North Olmsted. I was willing to pay someone to tell me what the hell was going on. The guy looks at us and says, “I don’t have anybody to look at it today. How about Monday?”
Monday!? “What about the other Firestone in Rocky River?”, I ask him. “Nope” he replies, “the manager there is a friend of mine. I just talked to him. They’re totally booked too.” “We can look at it Monday” he repeated.
Damn.
Now I’ve got two whole days to make this whole situation worse in my head. I know me… by Monday, I’ll be terrified to get into the car. I’ll have myself convinced that the squeaking is a precursor to the entire rear axle cracking while I’m driving down Lorain Road. The cracked axle dragging on the pavement will shower the rear end of the car in sparks, which of course will ignite the gas tank, sending us all to our deaths in a spectacular ball of flames.
Monday, indeed.
On the other hand… what sound do dying shocks make? Since the car still handles fine, and we only hear the noise after starting from a dead stop or when we hit a good-sized bump… I’m thinking maybe it’s just the shocks (or springs – whatever) sigh