I need help! My 2006 Mazda Tribute started making a loud sound by the wheels.

helpme1982

I was told by one mechanic shop that my wheel bearings needed to be replaced. My car would shake and make a loud noise in the front and my roof would shake in the center up front by the windshield. Now, mind you, my car goes into drive and reverse with no issues. The new mechanic shop is saying it is my transmission. I dont believe so and I think because Im a girl I am getting screwed. Please anyone with any knowledge, throw me a bone here. I cannot afford a huge bill if its something so simple! Please reply.


Tina

thecardoc3

What good is a vote by people who cannot drive your car and get to hear and feel the symptom first hand? Auto repair doesn't work by just reporting some issue and from that it always equals a straightforward diagnosis. If it was that simple then the techs would not be in disagreement as to the source of the noise.

helpme1982

Thought forums were for information??!

thecardoc3

What more information do you need other than you shouldn't have people try and guess what is wrong? Well there is this.. You wrote "I dont believe so and I think because Im a girl I am getting screwed." Automobile technicians have a very difficult job to start with and it only gets harder when someone doesn't respect what they do. When someone comes into the shop with a perception like that already in place it doesn't matter how good the techs might be, nor what they do, they are going to be denigrated for having tried to help.

cmhj2000

thecardoc3 said:

When someone comes into the shop with a perception like that already in place it doesn't matter how good the techs might be, nor what they do, they are going to be denigrated for having tried to help.

The perception part sums it up. I have no idea how many times I've given my 2 cents worth only to be told it can't be the issue. Yet they'll ask any way without you having the opportunity to hear, diagnose or test drive the vehicle.

So why bother trying to help?

stever

So I go to two different shops and I get two different stories from mechanics who do have opportunity to hear and test the issue. Bearings at one, transmission at the other.

No wonder people don't trust mechanics.

Then if you go online you get yelled at for not using a mechanic - well, how do you know which one is probably right without throwing a lot of money at them?

Maybe someone could read the first post again and suggest something helpful about the mechanical issue. Or at least suggest how to find an honest mechanic without emptying your bank account.

thecardoc3

"So I go to two different shops and I get two different stories from mechanics who do have opportunity to hear and test the issue. Bearings at one, transmission at the other.

No wonder people don't trust mechanics."

So then you go onto a forum and ask for advice from people who cannot drive and hear the noise first hand and on top of that have no verifiable experience as a technicians. Who came up with that idea? (Hint, it wasn't a qualified technician.) The real question right now is whether the sound(s) being heard are coming the transmission, the wheel bearings, the tires, none of the above or some combination of the above. The OP isn't the first person that has been misled into thinking that she really can get help from some forum or chat room, and sadly she won't be the last.

"Then if you go online you get yelled at for not using a mechanic - well, how do you know which one is probably right without throwing a lot of money at them?"

Yelled at for not using a mechanic? Or advised that treating all mechanics as if they are only out to take advantage of her because of her gender is no way to build a relationship with a good shop/technician even if she did find one. Good technicians, honest technicians don't deserve to be stereotyped like that. If you want the OP to find a more qualified technician who could make easier work of her vehicle's problem then she and consumers at large need to take a better approach and realize that the top people in the trade are professionals and should be treated as such, or else they don't deserve to find any.

"Maybe someone could read the first post again and suggest something helpful about the mechanical issue. Or at least suggest how to find an honest mechanic without emptying your bank account"

With all of the abuse that techs have had to endure through the years a strong case could be made that the public at large doesn't deserve to have any techs available to fix their cars. For the last twenty-thirty years nobody has wanted their kids (grand-kids) to become technicians and have to deal with the trashy stereotypes on top of the poor working conditions. Through the years a lot of people signed up to try and make themselves a career of repairing automobiles only to find out there was just too much stacked against them getting to be successful. That's why there are far more ex-technicians who maybe"could have" learned to be very good at the job than there are technicians. Maybe one of those exes could have been just the person that the O.P. needs. But the job and especially the pressure to be too cheap simply didn't offer enough to them when compared to the kinds of wages and benefits they could realize in almost any other career.

stever

The thing is, lots of us have gotten lots of help about car (and other) issues from forums and "chat rooms". I've seen a lot of that kind of help coming from you too.