When you drive the rural roads of Bull Valley or beyond, you may play the radio, get into the groove of your favorite tunes, but have you lowered the radio long enough to listen to your car? Your car may have something to say that you want to hear.

No, this isn’t to suggest that, like the 1960s sitcom, ‘My Mother the Car,’ your car can actually talk to you. It’s not even a reference to a SIRI-like voice from the GPS mode of your smartphone synced to your car. This is another language. It’s the language of the noises your car can make – some normal and some indicating a potential problem.

The other day, Rich was driving down Bull Valley Road. As he approached N. Cold Spring Road. Suddenly, he felt a repeated thump in the back of the car. He turned the radio down and heard a screeching noise. He could feel a pull in the steering wheel to the right and had the impression that the passenger-rear wheel was about to fall off the car.

After turning past the intersection headed eastbound on Bull Valley Road, he pulled onto the shoulder and went back to see what the problem was. He almost expected to find the rear wheel hanging precariously under the fender.

At first, he saw nothing at all. But, on closer inspection, through the vents in the aluminum mag wheels, he noticed something inside the wheel. There, jammed between the wheel and the brake caliper, was what, at first glance, looked like a green tennis ball. On closer examination, it turned out to be a seed from a tree.


A call to Perricone Garden Center & Nursery determined that it was, most likely, a seed from a Butternut or Black Walnut tree. The side is inside and was the hard part that was stuck between caliper and rim making the noise. Getting the nut out of the wheel was not easy. It took a screwdriver and a hammer.

The likelihood that a seed from a Butternut tree would become lodged between your caliper and rim is slim. The point, however, is that it’s essential to listen to your car. A problem that you might not hear over the radio is a problem that could cause serious damage or even create a dangerous situation before you realize it’s there.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen to your favorite tunes on the radio while cruising down Bull Valley Road but that you just want to take some time, now and then, to listen to your car.