Driver side front wheel rumble

Handling, suspension, and brake tuning discussions
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jmulla
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2009 10:19 am

Driver side front wheel rumble

Post by jmulla »

I know this has been asked before, but I haven't seen an explanation that fits my symptoms.

2009 Vibe, 1.8L, 120K miles. Only owner.

There is a clear rumble noise (wheel speed) from LF wheel. It is noticeable at slow speeds but worst at 30-40 mph. At higher speeds it is drowned out by wind/road/highway noises.

Full disclosure: We were traveling most of the summer (June-Aug) and the car was used very little. We noticed the rumble when we got back. But the car was driven a few times during this time. I was wondering about a tire flat spot, but it didn't sit idle the whole three months on the same spot. And, the problem has persisted after regular driving for a couple of weeks.

I took off the LF wheel. Lugs were torqued down good. Brakes looked good. There was no play in the hub itself (side-to-side). The disc had some play in the rotational plane, but this is mainly due to the logs being skinnier than the holes in the disc, which would be taken care of by tightening the lug nuts. HOWEVER, when I turned the hub by hand (rotational plane) there was a considerable amount of play. I would say 1/2" at the edge of the disc, which would be 1-2" at the tire. As I rotated the hub back and forth, I could hear a distinct "clunk-clunk". In order to compare with the LF side, I jacked up the other side and it did the same thing. Hard to believe that both sides are having the same problem.

Incidentally, there is some history here. 3 years ago, I had the outer CV boots replaced. A few weeks later the RF CV broke. The garage admitted it was their fault (they never told me what they had done wrong) replaced the outer RH axle. They said they checked the LF CV and it was OK. I wonder if the same problem is occurring on the LF side.

How do I tell a bad bearing from a bad CV or some other issue that is causing the rumble. Is there a "if-then-else" set of tests to run through that would pin-point the cause?

Thanks for reading.
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