Front vibration when turning right.

Andrizzle

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Could not really find an old thread that had similar issue with a gen 2, so I made this one.

2004 V8. 19" aftermarket wheels; ~2" drop with springs; no bends in wheels I can see. Front tires are Falken FK452, rears are Falken Azenis PT-722.

I began getting a slight vibration at highway speeds that barely shakes steering wheel. The car drives straight. When slightly turning to the right, the vibration is noticeably louder as a drone. It sounds like it is coming from the front left wheel. I chalked this up to having worn down front tires (which I did, down to the chords in some spots). I just put on new tires last weekend and they were road force balanced and the rears are a few months older. All of my wheels are mounted with hub centric rings and I have remounted them to make sure nothing was askew. Sway bar bushing and endlinks have been replaced and check out to be in good condition still.

So the vibration is the exact same from going to the new tires, so now I am wondering if perhaps I have a bigger issue. I will try and get a video uploaded that shows the sound and comparison with slight turns to the right (such as changing lanes).

This is most noticeable at highway speeds, but I can still feel it slightly when at city street speeds, as well. I have not heard of many wheel bearing issues with the gen2, but maybe I am not searching well enough. When jacked up, the wheel has no abnormal movement when rocking back and forth etc. Again, wouldn't a wheel bearing vibrate most of the time and not just when turned to the right?


-I have experimented and applied the brakes when I hear the drone at highway speeds and it gets noticeably quieter with minimal deceleration.
-I am going to try moving the front wheels to the back when I have more time later this week and see if the sound moves.



Any insight would be appreciated, the sound does not seem to be getting worse, it is consistently around the same level.

Also I will be doing a photoshoot later this week (most likely Friday)!
 
Read something online about the wheel bearing needing replaced is on the opposite end of the noise. WTF? Probably some BS.

Looks like a full new hub is only around 80 bucks. Anyone else with a gen2 had to replace front bearings/hubs?


One thing to mention is the vibration was never there until I started commuting pure interstate for work. And along the stretch I go is a small speedbump that you are forced to hit at about 60mph. (It's actually where asphalt meets concrete at the seam and they have failed to grind it down yet) I have found the perfect path to take over it to minimize impact, but with rubber band tires there is not much I can do. It makes me almost lose my teeth.
 
Anyone else with a gen2 had to replace front bearings/hubs?

Yes, it was the very first repair I made to my LS. The car started making a weird clunking noise when I was stopping or turning sharply. Had them both replaced for about $300 IIRC.
 
Forced to go 60mph? Is that midget under the hood pulling on the throttle cable? Take it slow enough so as to not lose your teeth, and other drivers will be forced to drive around you or slow down. :)

Another vote for wheel bearing. I'd remove the wheel, and grab one of the lugs and spin it by hand. Easier to tell a bad bearing when you don't have the extra weight of the wheel. at least, that's always worked for me.
 
I replaced my passenger hub a while back. Kind of had the same problem, can't recall which way I had to turn to increase it. Thought for sure it was the bearing, even looked over my tires 3 good times for cupping. Ultimately ended up being the tires... These cars are very sensitive to vibration, if I have little pebbles in my treads I can feel it.

Move the wheels see what happens. If it continues just get a hub, takes like 15 min to swap out. Pretty sure autozone will let you return it if it ends up not being the issue.
 
When my rear bearing went bad, there was zero play, but a ton of noise. Inside the cabin sounded like a dump truck driving by.

I finally verified it by jacking up the suspected wheel, putting the car in drive and observing the noise.
 
One thing to mention is the vibration was never there until I started commuting pure interstate for work. And along the stretch I go is a small speedbump that you are forced to hit at about 60mph. (It's actually where asphalt meets concrete at the seam and they have failed to grind it down yet) I have found the perfect path to take over it to minimize impact, but with rubber band tires there is not much I can do. It makes me almost lose my teeth.

Call and complain to the city/county/state...whom ever is responsible for that road.

It's your right to have it fixed before any damage is done.
 
I was going to mention that too. There were a couple roads here that got pretty bad one spring. The city paid for damages to people's vehicles because of the potholes.
 
After researching on youtube and the help of you guys.

I have ordered a Raybesto front end hub assembly from RockAuto.

I will let you guys know how much fun it was banging out the old one. (that's what he said?)
 

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