I'm not sure how safe this procedure is...

Kinja'd!!! by "Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
Published 01/10/2017 at 16:28

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My car has had a rhythmic wobble sound that changes with speed, that I thought might be a wheel bearing. Took it to the mechanic to check it out and I got to watch all 4 wheels spin in the air with the car on the lift. It is, in fact, AWD.

Also, as far as they can tell, the source of the noise is my front passenger wheel is out of round. They swapped it over to the driver side and I’m going to see if the noise seems to have followed it.

The noise was also coming from the same corner when I had my summer wheels and tires on, which is why I thought it didn’t have to do with wheels. But my mechanic suggested that maybe that corner’s wheel was also bent on my summer wheels, which isn’t as crazy as it sounds, because that corner takes a beating. We don’t have a ton of potholes here in Madison, but there are a lot of manhole covers that are sunk too far down into the road surface. There were two near me. One was fixed a few months ago, and another is still there. I just hit the damn thing again this past weekend. I need to stay out of the right lane on that road.

The front passenger wheel on my summer tires has a little bend in the lip so it’s possible it’s also bent. Go figure. There’s a mobile wheel repair company that my mechanic recommended, so if the noise now seems like it’s on the driver’s side, I’ll have them come out and fix up both bent wheels.


Replies (17)

Kinja'd!!! "Bigjohn428" (bigjohn428)
01/10/2017 at 16:51, STARS: 0

Couldn’t they have put the tire on a balancing machine before sending you out the door?

Kinja'd!!! "Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
01/10/2017 at 16:53, STARS: 0

Small shop. No such machine. The wheel was very visibly out of round, and the tires were just mounted & road force balanced at the tire shop about a month ago. They apparently just didn’t feel the need to tell me the wheel was out of round. I suppose that’s not too surprising given it was the beginning of December in Wisconsin and every tire shop is slammed with people.

Kinja'd!!! "Takuro Spirit" (takurospirit)
01/10/2017 at 16:54, STARS: 3

Its fine, we do it all the time. Just don’t do it for too long or at too high of speed since the suspension is at full droop and therefore the driveline bits are at extreme angles that they’re not used to being at.

But for diagnosing double roller bearings its the best way. Or other driveline noises, so long as you can get under there with a stethoscope and start probin’.

Kinja'd!!! "TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
01/10/2017 at 16:55, STARS: 1

The manholes could not sink without the road also sinking. Below that manhole is a large junction box connecting to the pipes. It’s something like the picture below. Designs vary, but this is a decent representation.

Kinja'd!!!

One of several things probably happened. The street has an asphalt overlay which was placed on top of concrete and the contractor did not install extension rings to raise the level of the manhole. The overlay was on an asphalt street and the contractor either did not remove enough of the old asphalt, the overlay was applied directly onto the old asphalt without grinding, or the contractor removed the correct amount of asphalt but the new overlay was thicker than what was removed (not very likely). In all of these cases, the manhole height should have been raised to the pavement height with adjustment rings.

Kinja'd!!!

Petition your city to consider installing adjustment rings. It’s a relatively inexpensive solution which will make driving better for everyone.

Kinja'd!!! "TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
01/10/2017 at 17:00, STARS: 1

One more thing. If the wheel is bent or out of round, that can be tested in a much less dangerous manner by raising the suspect wheel, placing a stationary pointer near the lip, then slowly rotating the wheel. This is how bicycle wheels are trued. Same concepts, different application. I’m sure you can improvise a good solution to test your wheel.

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Kinja'd!!! "TFSIVTEC drivesavolvo" (drivesaswedishcarmadeinbelgium-)
01/10/2017 at 17:08, STARS: 1

Nothing wrong with that method, awd makes it even better because you can stethoscope each bearing independently and compare them all at even speed

Kinja'd!!! "Nibby" (nibby68)
01/10/2017 at 17:14, STARS: 1

dat blue doe

Kinja'd!!! "HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles" (hondasfordsvolvo)
01/10/2017 at 17:16, STARS: 1

Pile wheel bearings still whine when they aren’t under load?

Kinja'd!!! "Takuro Spirit" (takurospirit)
01/10/2017 at 17:28, STARS: 1

Pile? Dunno bout that style... is that what BMW use or something? The double roller style I know do not change in pitch based off of load.

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Kinja'd!!! "Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
01/10/2017 at 17:45, STARS: 1

I’ll do this! The one that was fixed was part of an overall reconstruction of that section of road. The other one, the road it’s on is certainly not in the greatest shape but I don’t know of any immediate plans to do something about it.

Kinja'd!!! "Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
01/10/2017 at 17:45, STARS: 0

There weren’t any stethoscopes involved, but the wheel was pretty visibly out of round.

Kinja'd!!! "HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles" (hondasfordsvolvo)
01/10/2017 at 18:10, STARS: 0

Just a typo it was supposed to say “will wheel bearings”

Kinja'd!!! "Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
01/10/2017 at 18:11, STARS: 0

I just reported the pothole through the city’s pothole website . We’ll see if anything ever happens about it.

I just need to remember to stick to the left lane on that section of road. Grr.

Kinja'd!!! "Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
01/10/2017 at 18:15, STARS: 0

This is the OEM front wheel bearing repair kit...

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Kinja'd!!! "DocWalt" (DocWalt)
01/10/2017 at 21:58, STARS: 0

It’s fine... I did this on jackstands and survived

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Kinja'd!!! "Takuro Spirit" (takurospirit)
01/11/2017 at 08:42, STARS: 0

Oh. Funny enough it came up on the Googles. But yes, you can hear them grinding away even when run up on a lift.

Kinja'd!!! "FINAL Automotive Finishes" (finalautomotivefinishes)
01/13/2018 at 13:41, STARS: 0

There is a better alternative to that mobile wheel repair company. FINAL Automotive Finishes (https://www.finalautomotive.com/) offer a full range of alloy wheel damage repair and reconditioning services. From a simple color change, to repairing scratches, gouges, curb rash, and discoloration of OEM wheels, we will return your wheel back to its OEM condition and finish. We repair wheels nationwide with free shipping.