My car, after 47 days of down time, is back at my house, new wheels, engine cradle, bearings, cv joints, axles and all. Everything is in working order (and the comparison of handling to the ASXs and stockies on the 7.5" rims is no contest. )

However... there's road noise. Specifically when the steering wheel is turned right, past center. It becomes noticeable around 30mph, and 50+mph is pretty severe. It sounds like i'm hitting a quieter version of the sleep strips that run along the interstate. Turning left yields no noise, nor turning right back to center (straight).

The dealer has no explanation to this to my knowledge, as I was working when my dad picked it up, and he didn't say anything other than "road noise is still there." I don't think they would have notified us of it's "completion" if it were still broken anyhow.

So. Ideas to what's wrong?

 

why was it in the shop? accident?

 

yup accident

prob. didn't fix everything properly coz they couldn't

 

maybe a bent axle causing the shaking. or even a tire not ballanced properly. the turning, i dont know. maybe the rack was damaged.

 

Trade it in--they are never the same after an accident.

 

Sounds like a possible alignment issue. If you can hear it that would be pretty severe though.

 

How does it track?

 

Straight as an arrow.

I personally feel no need to trade it in after the money insurance dumped into it. Drove it in city and highway, and is just as I remembered. Besides, with it's no-longer-clean title, me and my dad would be bent over for this almost-perfect car.

I'm wondering if having a load on the wheels would affect this or not. I'm willing to set the damn thing on stands and run through the gears to find what the ____ is wrong.

 

I'm thinking that it's an inproperly balanced tire too. Too bad I don't have the stockies for comparison. They were decimated.

 

Maybe a broken belt in the tire. It would balance ok but would vibrate at speed.

 

I doubt its the tire balance, if that was the case then the road noise would be there no matter what direction you turned the wheel. If it is that though, it's a easy fix take it to any tire dealer and tell them to rebalance all the wheels. Problem solved.

Now, if there just noise? or does the wheel shake also?

If you have the wheels rebal'ed make sure to have them check for impact breaks. This is where one of the belts break, but causes the rubber to bulge and can cause noise and vibrations. If it's on the inner belt, you wont even be able to see it till you take the wheel off the car.

Since it was in a accident, it might be a bent frame too.

 

I'm pretty sure i've come up with a possible solution. The brake calipers were painted when I had the car fixed, and I noticed today that the left front rims were being scraped very lightly by the caliper. I felt the back of the rim's spokes, and there was a groove parallel with where the paint has been scraped off. Sucks, but it doesn't affect the rim cosmetically from any angle, so it's not of much concern to me. So i'm thinking, maybe when I turn right, however slight, it's causing the caliper on the left to shift and make contact, because of the balance of the car shifting. Also, it would explain its severity at higher speeds.

I'll give the shop a heads up. Hopefully, this is the case and I save myself two more weeks without a car.

 

Holy crap that sucks. If the caliper is actually shifting it could just be they forgot to tighten a bolt, or it could be a much more serious problem that requires lots of cutting and welding.

Good luck.

 

God damn my dad's a ____ing idiot. He inflated my tires, 225/40/18, to 50 ____in' psi, and now not only is the noise still there, and it's WORSE, but the car pulls to the right again. AHHH!

If I become as stupid when i'm 52, I want to be euthanized.

 

Taking to the dealer tomorrow. Hopefully whatever it is will be a quick fix.

 

i thought yr father didn't want u to change the car....but i see u have rims?

 

Three of the 4 stock rims were bent to hell and back from my accident, so we put the alloted insurance money to different rims. We didn't really like the stock ones too much.

I honestly do not know what goes through his mind. I like the rims, but I didn't have a word on them. I wanted some ICW rims that costed the same and looked better.

I just think he didn't want me to buy that grill.

Whatever my next car is, i'm buying it. He keeps me under his thumb because of this car.

 

hmmm i can understand both u and him at the same time
it was a gift and that's a double edge sword my friend

 

You have a brand new great car, that somehow you got for free.


But you wana complain about the wheels your dad also bought for you? Quit your whining kid.

When i was your age, i was driving a '77 T-bird that i had to pay for myself. It was a pile of junk, but it was mine. Not all of us have fathers that will buy us brand new cars. Or hell can even afford a brand new car or the mods.

So be thankful that you get a brand new car with aftermarket rims. Or if you dont like them so much, give it all to me. I wont complain.

 

I simply stated that I didn't have a choice. I like them fine (they wouldn't be my avatar otherwise). My problem is how he won't let me work on my car myself, or buy and install things, like a simple $90 grill, with MY money.

You have no idea how appreciative I am of this car, ESPECIALLY not having it for 50 days. Bumming rides off of my friends, being stuck at home every day during summer, having to take my dad's SUV to work, seeing my girlfriend once a week, if even that...
My friends drive a 2002 Cavalier and a 1996 Ford Contour that won't even move out of first gear. I realize i'm a spoiled _____ and it shows to the people that aren't as accustomed to it, but I try hard to be humble.