Shop Shots Volume 69 Insider Pictures of Automotive Service
Happy Wednesday everyone. If you like are like me, you are about over winter. I am ready to get home from work and still have some daylight. Plus I am ready for top down weather in the Cabby. If you are new to the community, be sure to check out the Luv-a-Dub tab. You can see the build and restore of my 1988 VW Cabriolet with a VR6 engine swap. She is in winter mode right now. I can’t wait to get her back on the road.
Today we have Shop Shots. Let’s get right to it!
Last week’s snow storm reeked havoc on so many cars. We have had 15+ cars come in with bent suspension parts over the last week. This VW is one of the worst I have seen. The solid steel arm of the lower suspension bent. It is bent at a crazy angle. The impact it takes to bend this lower control arm is severe. Replacing the control arm was just the beginning. We also had to replace the axle, wheel bearing, ball joint, and tie rod. All of these are vital parts of the suspension.
I feel like I post a lot of transmission pictures. There is something so cool about the guts of a transmission. This is the gears of a Passat manual transmission. The customer was concerned about a grinding going into 3rd gear. That is generally an issue with the synchro. This transmission had a good amount of metal in the fluid.
When we have an internal engine or transmission issue, we have to decide whether to repair, or replace. It involves us adding up the parts we think we need to replace, and comparing that to the cost of a new unit. It generally works out that we replace the unit. That is something that almost always makes the customer happy.
Like I said in the top picture, winter has been crazy! This is the back side of a wheel. The customer drove in on their spare tire(yay for them knowing how to change a tire). Our tire guy took the wheel out of the trunk and immediately called me over. Not only was their a good size bend in the lip of the wheel, the entire wheel was split. The front face was split away from the barrel of the wheel. I have seen a ton of damaged wheels, but I have never personally seen a wheel split in two. Can you imagine the sound that made. Yikes!
Well that wraps up another week of behind the scenes pictures. I hope that you are all careful and look out for potholes. They hang around long after the snow does. My wife was just telling me about having to dodge potholes. She said she felt like a drunk guy 😉
One last thing, if you enjoy the things we talk about here, please consider sharing this blog. There are share buttons on the top and bottom of every post. As the community grow, it gives me more bargaining power to do cool things like giveaways. At some point this year, I will start looking for some sponsors for the blog. More on that another time.
Nice rim. That must have hit something pretty hard. The driver probably didn’t hear it. Too busy going uh oh, or what ever unedited thing you want to think he said.
Yes, that wheel looks pretty bad. I’m licensed motor vehicle mechanic with 41 years at work never seen like that !
I think, Charles, you guys, should good ask wheels manufacture about that.
That is huge safety issue, in my opinion.
Is that a VW wheel ?
Winter really is tough on vehicles! Makes me very grateful to live in a place with mild winters and no snow; although we have enough heat in the summer to sun damage just about anything outside so I guess that makes up for it! Thanks for the post!
Charles, I love your blog, and shop shots is always a favorite of mine. You do a fantastic job. I’m an ASE master tech and really appreciate all the work you put into this site. If it’s not too much trouble, I would love for you to check out my blog and give me some feedback. Look forward to hearing from you!
Thanks for the kind words Garan! It means so much to get that from my peers in the industry. I would be happy to check our your site.