Mark: Hi, it's Mark Bossert. I'm here with Bernie Pawlik. Mr. Bernie Pawlik of Pawlik Automotive. He's the owner operator of Pawlik Automotive Repair in Vancouver. Vancouver's best auto service experience, period. And we're talking cars. How you doing, Bernie?
Bernie: Doing very well.
Mark: So today we're talking about a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee. What was going on with this vehicle?
Bernie: So the owner is experiencing a, actually I'll just read the words from his note, hearing a metallic clunking and grinding from the left rear, especially when turning.
Mark: So what was the history behind this?
Bernie: Yeah, so the vehicle had actually been at a Chrysler dealer near us since August. We're now, actually it's November 1st today, but to be fair, we did the work in October. So it was there for a couple of months. They looked at the vehicle. They replaced the left rear axle shaft figured that was the problem. Didn't help. There was some other links replaced in the rear suspension. That didn't help the issue.
When we took everything apart and looked at it, it looked like the left rear brake backing plate had been replaced where the parking brake was. And the first thing we noticed was that the parking brake shoes, the lower parking brake shoe had basically broken apart.
I unfortunately didn't take a picture of it, but parking brake shoe, it has a lining on it. And three quarters of the lining was actually broken off and missing. So why they didn't replace that. I don't know. It wasn't even a recommended suggestion from this other dealership. When we also looked at the right rear side, the shoe had almost delaminated.
I just tapped it with my finger and it broke right off. So we figured, okay, that could be part of the noise, but we weren't quite convinced. And the dealership had also recommended replacing the rear shock absorbers as the next thing to do. But by this point, the the owner was a little disenchanted with how things were going and decided to bring it to us for for our opinion.
So we basically drove the vehicle. We verified we heard the noise, did the inspection on the rear, took everything apart, looked at it as much as we could. Found these issues with the parking brake shoes, but weren't quite convinced. I didn't do the vehicle myself, I noticed my two technicians, one was driving the vehicle around the parking lot. The other had his head hanging out the rear door, trying to listen for the noise. And what we found was really interesting.
Mark: So here's our Grand Cherokee.
Bernie: There's our Grand Cherokee. Notice it's got some steel wheels on it and some winter type tires. So these are not the factory wheels. These are an aftermarket wheel.
Mark: And a clue about maybe what's coming up.
Bernie: So there, if you look at this wheel near the bottom, sort of in those round areas, you'll see cracks. And that is what we found was wrong with the vehicle. Very unusual actually.
And while obviously, the other shop should have looked further to find it, you know, once we found it, we go, Oh, that's it. And just to verify it, we swapped the wheel from the front to the rear and the noise and crunching and clunking followed the noise. So we knew we'd found the problem.
Simple when you take the time. And I mean, in all fairness, you know, after cars been to another shop and someone's dissatisfied and a bunch of parts have been changed that didn't solve the problem. It sort of makes our, not entirely easier, but it changes the focus of what we look at. But I'm sure we would have found this cause it's really obvious.
Mark: Is this a common issue? I don't think I've ever seen this before.
Bernie: No, I haven't seen it either. I mean, maybe once in my whole career. Something like that.
Mark: Probably someone running into a curb or through a pothole of some kind.
Bernie: It could be, yeah, it could be a curb hit. I mean, the wheel didn't seem bent. Usually a wheel would bend and you'd think you know, it just could be a crappy quality wheel. These are not factory wheels. Without saying any names, they were purchased that a very large warehouse type chain place that sells tires and wheels, and known for selling perhaps not the best quality. But very well priced items.
Sometimes you get what you pay for. Sometimes things work really well. So that's basically a problem found. And so I'm not sure what the client's actually going to do, whether he's going to take it back there, but we ended up putting the spare tire on the vehicle, spare tire and wheel, and he was able to drive it away and leave. So problem fixed.
Mark: Another happy customer.
Bernie: Yeah.
Mark: So is it possible to even speculate that this is just bad quality steel in this?
Bernie: It could be like you said, maybe someone hit a curb. Maybe they hit a bump too hard, a pothole.
Mark: That's probably what the retailer's gonna claim.
Bernie: Yeah, but I mean it could be a defect in the wheel. It is really hard to say but normally if you hit a curb or did something, you'd see like a bend or something in the wheel, but the tires weren't scratched up or scraped. And especially being a driver's side, usually if there's a bent wheel or something, it's usually happens from the front right because that's usually where people park and unless you're in England, then it'll be the front left. People scratch their curbs on the other side. Anyways. Hard to know, but problem found.
It's always gratifying when we find something like that. And the other thing is we did actually replace the parking brake shoes too. So you know, why that wasn't recommended from the other shop? I don't really know. We're kind of scratching our heads, why wouldn't you recommend that? Maybe they did and the owner just never mentioned it, but they should have.
Mark: So if you have a difficult problem that you want fixed, you haven't gotten the dealership or the other repair shop hasn't got it fixed, the guys to see in Vancouver or Pawlik Automotive. Also for your Jeep products. Experts, they've repaired hundreds of them. Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC, Canada. You can book online at pawlikautomotive.com. They'll call you back. They'll get ready for your appointment. Or you can call them on the telephone. Imagine that. Someone will actually answer the phone, unless sometimes they're busy. (604) 327-7112. They'll get back to you. They'll find out what's going on. They'll get ready for your repair. Pawlik Automotive. You have to book ahead. They're always busy. In Vancouver, BC, Canada. Thanks for watching and listening. Thanks. Bernie.
Bernie: Thank you, Mark. Thanks for watching.
