So I ended up putting close to 1000 miles on my car this weekend (Atlanta to Daytona to Atlanta to Athens to Atlanta) and I started noticing some troubling noises on the way back from Daytona. There was a noise that I can best describe as a knock coming from my suspension (I believe) when decelerating. It sounds like I'm going over a bridge (like the tires hitting the seams in the road). It wasn't that noticeable at first. It was mostly only when I was going interstate speeds. However, now I can hear it just driving around in the city. I have noticed that my car definitely needs an alignment. I've been getting some vibration at higher speeds. Could this have something to do with it? I checked for something stuck in my tire (it sounds like it's coming from my front driver-side area), but didn't see anything. I'm just at a loss at what it could be. BTW, the only thing not stock about my suspension are the whiteline steering rack bushings and some 17x8 wheels with 225s.
Yuck, that sounds like it might be expensive. I guess I need to set up an appointment with one of the dealerships in the near future.
axle boot. roll under the car and check them for tears if it's a front just get a reman axle. rears will cost you money since they dont have remans for them. best bet is to get it looked at ASAP and you might be able to salvage the joint. if you're mechanically inclined you can do it yourself and avoid the stealership
I plan on getting it taken care of as soon as I can, but it likely won't be for at least a week. Will it be dangerous to drive it in the mean time? I live in midtown and I don't really have to do any interstate driving or anything, just little errands here and there. I'm decently savvy with mechanical things, but don't have the proper set-up, tools, or time to do anything right now. Granted this is all contingent on it in fact being the axle boot. I'll try to shimmy my way under the car and check it out tomorrow.
if it's a front boot, I would just pop it out and throw in a remanufactured axle. dangerous? no. it will just be annoying and the joint will eventually fail and make lots of noise. you only noticed it on the highway because the boot has lost grease, and the highway speeds are causing the joint to heat up and expand. now that the joint is damaged you'll notice it more and more at lower speeds (load)
Haha ok. I was just making sure that nothing would break that could cause my wheel to fall off or something. Appreciate the input.
Alright, a little more observation. I had to drive somewhere tonight and I was able to roll my windows down in the parking garage and hear things a little better (sound bouncing off the walls and all). In addition to the knocking sound there is a creaky/squeaky sort of noise when beginning to move and when coming to a stop. There is also a rhythmic ticking when moving a little faster. Oh and to add to the current ghettoness of my car, one of my headlights went out...awesome. Not that it really matters now, but any ideas on what might have caused any axle problems?
Hmm, well I finally got some time to give my car a good look. I'm getting ready to jack the car up and go to loosen the lugs on the front driver side wheel. And to my surprise I find that two of the lugnuts were not tight at all. I mean like it was effortless to move them. I tighten them down and I'm no longer getting any kind of noise. (I also still jacked the car up and looked and felt around and found no tears or anything). So anyways I'm kind of relieved that the fix was so easy, but kind of shocked and scared at the same time.