So im dropping my dad off at work, and its the first big snow of the season, my dad works nights so its about 10pm when i drop him off. The entire way there (about 8 miles or so) is covered in at least 2 inches of snow. As any fellow ss/sc owners know, the car is impossible to drive in the snow without the tires spinning. I drop my dad off, get out of the car for a few minutes to talk to a friend, and then get back in to try and leave. Start the car, normal, put it in gear, normal, begin to drive, BOOM, followed by several loud and evil sounds. Pop the hood, the engine is sunken down and tilted back. Im not a n00b so my first thought was the engine mount, so i had the damn thing towed into a chevy dealer at about midnight. I get a call a few days later saying that i broke the trans, the driver axle, and 2 motor mounts. Well today i went in there to see it and it was a mess. The trans casing was fractured in several places, two mounts were completely broken, and the driverside axle was completely torn out of the joint. The service manager is having a rep from chevy come out to look at it but says that it was most likely due to abuse. let me make one thing clear, I DID NOT ABUSE THIS CAR. I am 19 yrs old, I bought this car, I paid for it, BY MYSELF. I dont know any other 19 year olds who are able to say that they did this without "mommy" or "daddy". So the service manager says if they dont cover it, itll be about 6k. WHERE THE F*CK AM I GNA GET THAT? This is a 2007 Cobalt SS/SC, everyone i talked to said that this car SHOULD NOT be having this issue, even if it was being abused. Please give me some advice as to how i should proceed. Thanks!!!

 

any mods?

 

Im having the same thoughts as the dealer right now.

a broken mount....yeah ok

a broken axle...yeah maybe...

but all of that at once?
sorry man but its very difficult to believe something like that just happens with regular driving.

Im not saying you did or you didnt, but the facts scream abuse...
sounds exactly like what would happen with extreme wheelhop.

your gonna have a tough time convincing them...

 

I'd start talking to a lawyer now if you can.

 

How many miles are on the car & do you have any mods?

 

ouch man, good luck!

 

It would indicate possible abuse, whether intentional or untintentional, but the burden of proof is on the dealership.

The axle could have happened when the tranny dropped also.

 

Mods?

 

the car has aboout 9k miles on it and as far as mods, i have a 3 inch cat back (which actually made the car less powerful) and a torque dampener (which reduces wheelhop). As far as it happening all at once, any one of those things happening seperately couldve made the other happen. One mount breaks, the other one snaps and as the engine/trans falls the axle is torn out, thats the only thing i can think of.

 

how long have you hd the car? The only thing I can think of that might have caused this without abuse (other than the most miraculous set of failures all at once...) is that maybe the tires were spinning on the snow and he melted the ice/snow under the tire and got MASSIVE grip? **** I can't really think of how to do that any other way come to think of it... that's a LOT of damage either way.... you sure you weren't messing around with the car at all?? even before this happened? anyone else drive it?

 

Had you noticed any symptoms before it happened?

I would say if he truly didn't do anything to it, it was a chain reaction. Mount broke, put strain on another mount, that broke, it dropped, and ripped the axel out.

 

Yea thats what the dealer said too, about the slipping and then grip. But that night there was NO dry pavement, i mean NO dry pavement. It was late at night, still snowing, and it was on roads that went through the forest, and a deserted parking lot. I have never beaten on the car and NEVER let anyone else drive it. Of course theres a chirp here and a chirp there from the wheels every once in a while from a stoplight, but no burnouts or dumping the clutch or anything. Ive stalled it out a few times since ive owned it but thats about it

Interestingly enuff, the car seemed to pull to the driver side, every once in a while and only within the first 5/10 minutes of driving it

 

so the dealer is claiming that you smoked the tires long enough to get through the snow, and once you got through the snow it somehow got some monster grip? not happening.

 

thats what i said, they said that the tires were spinning, which i already said and i finally got the service manager to agree is impossible to avoid with that car in the snow, they cant say thats proof of abuse, can they?

 

yeah burden of proof would be on the dealership...who did you finance through?

 

if you're tires spinning because there's 2 inches of snow on the ground, then there's not one person that drives in the snow that has never abused it.

 

who installed the TD? maybe it was faulty is all i can guess

 

well here's the thing, whether the tire was spinning the in the snow and got grip (which is a crazy thing, and I only thought of it as a one in a million chance) or there was a chain reaction in the mount breaking, or there was something faulty with a mount or axle or something crazy, none of those things are your fault... make sure the dealer knows that, and make sure the GM rep knows that also. I'd definately be there when he looks at the car to make sure my .50 cents are heard. (**** .02))

 

That would have to be some hella abuse to do all that. I don't think its abuse. good luck

 

It's not an absurd accusation from the dealer, it's reasonable given the damage.

However, if you never abused the car then you probably had a bad motor mount that caused the chain of events. The dealer can still refuse service, and they don't have to prove you abused your car unless you were in court or in an arbitration process with the dealership.

 

Ask them to look at your clutch and tire treads. If GM built a tuner car, then it should take the abuse of a tuner. As long as you don't have a roll cage in there I hope everything goes in your favor.

 

ok, it's an 07. I have beaten the **** outta my car ('06) and my car is still running. There is no way in hell you abused your car enough to cause that amount of damage. No way.

 

Good point, your tire treads (if they are in good condition and you can prove you've had the tires on for a while) can "convince" the dealer despite who has the burden of proof. Spinning tires on snow should not be considered abuse. It's simply accepted as something that happens without intention.

 

ROFL!!!

ohhh boy.

thanks man, i needed that laugh.

 

im 19 and paid for my ss by myself... There now you know one....