Bent Hub or Spindle?
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 22
Likes: 0
Bent Hub or Spindle?
I kept noticing a tire chirp or squealing noise coming from the front of my 1981 model, when I was just driving along normally, not aggressive driving at all. I have a pearl white car, and after every drive, I kept getting some dark oily deposits along the driver door.
Curiosity got the best of me. and I put the car up on jacks stands at all four corners. I pulled all four wheels and tires, much to my surprise, both front tires were about worn clean out on the inner third of the tires, BF Goodrich T/A Radials, that were installed prior to me obtaining the car a few months ago ( I have put less than 1,000 miles on the car).
I had a new set of brake pads for the car, and while inspecting the rotors to determine if I needed to have them resurfaced or buy new ones, the front left rotor was ruined, it had a giant gouge on the inside of the rotor, close to the hub.
I pulled that rotor, and installed a new one while I was installing the new brake pads, the other three rotors were fine.
I got a new rotor for the front left wheel, installed it (new bearing set) I ran a few lug nuts down to secure the rotor so I could install the caliper and new brake pads.
I gave the new rotor a whirl to double check my install of it to the hub, and found that my brand new rotor was spinning around way out of true. Lots more than .002-.004. I do not have a dial indicator, but that thing is seriously out of whack.
Guy I bought it from had a rebuild effected on the front suspension and supposedly got it aligned and new tires installed on the front.
The car does not drift, shimmy or wobble, goes down the road fine.
Is my hub bent or spindle bent?
Curiosity got the best of me. and I put the car up on jacks stands at all four corners. I pulled all four wheels and tires, much to my surprise, both front tires were about worn clean out on the inner third of the tires, BF Goodrich T/A Radials, that were installed prior to me obtaining the car a few months ago ( I have put less than 1,000 miles on the car).
I had a new set of brake pads for the car, and while inspecting the rotors to determine if I needed to have them resurfaced or buy new ones, the front left rotor was ruined, it had a giant gouge on the inside of the rotor, close to the hub.
I pulled that rotor, and installed a new one while I was installing the new brake pads, the other three rotors were fine.
I got a new rotor for the front left wheel, installed it (new bearing set) I ran a few lug nuts down to secure the rotor so I could install the caliper and new brake pads.
I gave the new rotor a whirl to double check my install of it to the hub, and found that my brand new rotor was spinning around way out of true. Lots more than .002-.004. I do not have a dial indicator, but that thing is seriously out of whack.
Guy I bought it from had a rebuild effected on the front suspension and supposedly got it aligned and new tires installed on the front.
The car does not drift, shimmy or wobble, goes down the road fine.
Is my hub bent or spindle bent?
2026 Loser of the Year
Joined: Sep 2013
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From: New Or-leens Loo-z-anna
I kept noticing a tire chirp or squealing noise coming from the front of my 1981 model, when I was just driving along normally, not aggressive driving at all. I have a pearl white car, and after every drive, I kept getting some dark oily deposits along the driver door.
Curiosity got the best of me. and I put the car up on jacks stands at all four corners. Before removing the lug nuts always grab the wheel firmly at the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock positions and use some muscle to "rock the wheels in and out" see if there is any looseness in the wheel bearings and ball joints/also do the same at the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions. I pulled all four wheels and tires, much to my surprise, both front tires were about worn clean out on the inner third of the tires, BF Goodrich T/A Radials, that were installed prior to me obtaining the car a few months ago ( I have put less than 1,000 miles on the car). BOTH tires worn out on the inner 1/3 sounds more like too much toe-in OR too much camber on each wheel. Did the wheels appear to "lean inward" at the tops? Worn A-arm bushings/worn ball joints could cause inner tire wear.
I had a new set of brake pads for the car, and while inspecting the rotors to determine if I needed to have them resurfaced or buy new ones, the front left rotor was ruined, it had a giant gouge on the inside of the rotor, close to the hub.
I pulled that rotor, and installed a new one while I was installing the new brake pads, the other three rotors were fine.
I got a new rotor for the front left wheel, installed it (new bearing set) I ran a few lug nuts down to secure the rotor so I could install the caliper and new brake pads.
I gave the new rotor a whirl to double check my install of it to the hub, and found that my brand new rotor was spinning around way out of true. Lots more than .002-.004. I do not have a dial indicator, but that thing is seriously out of whack. Rotor run-out should be checked with the spindle nut snugged firmly to prevent bearing play from causing the dial indicator to show a "false reading".....BE SURE to loosen and reset the spindle nut for the correct bearing play after using the dial indicator. Mating surfaces have to be very clean and free of "bumps".
Guy I bought it from had a rebuild effected on the front suspension and supposedly got it aligned and new tires installed on the front. Somebody may be lying.......or......the alignment tech didn't know what he was doing.....or.....the alignment was done even though some suspension parts were worn out.
The car does not drift, shimmy or wobble, goes down the road fine. That could mean that the suspension parts are good...but the alignment is BAD.
Is my hub bent or spindle bent? Probably not...because both spindles would have to be bent the same amount to cause both tires to wear out.
Curiosity got the best of me. and I put the car up on jacks stands at all four corners. Before removing the lug nuts always grab the wheel firmly at the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock positions and use some muscle to "rock the wheels in and out" see if there is any looseness in the wheel bearings and ball joints/also do the same at the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions. I pulled all four wheels and tires, much to my surprise, both front tires were about worn clean out on the inner third of the tires, BF Goodrich T/A Radials, that were installed prior to me obtaining the car a few months ago ( I have put less than 1,000 miles on the car). BOTH tires worn out on the inner 1/3 sounds more like too much toe-in OR too much camber on each wheel. Did the wheels appear to "lean inward" at the tops? Worn A-arm bushings/worn ball joints could cause inner tire wear.
I had a new set of brake pads for the car, and while inspecting the rotors to determine if I needed to have them resurfaced or buy new ones, the front left rotor was ruined, it had a giant gouge on the inside of the rotor, close to the hub.
I pulled that rotor, and installed a new one while I was installing the new brake pads, the other three rotors were fine.
I got a new rotor for the front left wheel, installed it (new bearing set) I ran a few lug nuts down to secure the rotor so I could install the caliper and new brake pads.
I gave the new rotor a whirl to double check my install of it to the hub, and found that my brand new rotor was spinning around way out of true. Lots more than .002-.004. I do not have a dial indicator, but that thing is seriously out of whack. Rotor run-out should be checked with the spindle nut snugged firmly to prevent bearing play from causing the dial indicator to show a "false reading".....BE SURE to loosen and reset the spindle nut for the correct bearing play after using the dial indicator. Mating surfaces have to be very clean and free of "bumps".
Guy I bought it from had a rebuild effected on the front suspension and supposedly got it aligned and new tires installed on the front. Somebody may be lying.......or......the alignment tech didn't know what he was doing.....or.....the alignment was done even though some suspension parts were worn out.
The car does not drift, shimmy or wobble, goes down the road fine. That could mean that the suspension parts are good...but the alignment is BAD.
Is my hub bent or spindle bent? Probably not...because both spindles would have to be bent the same amount to cause both tires to wear out.
Last edited by doorgunner; Aug 1, 2015 at 11:37 PM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,116
Likes: 598
I kept noticing a tire chirp or squealing noise coming from the front of my 1981 model, when I was just driving along normally, not aggressive driving at all. I have a pearl white car, and after every drive, I kept getting some dark oily deposits along the driver door.
Curiosity got the best of me. and I put the car up on jacks stands at all four corners. I pulled all four wheels and tires, much to my surprise, both front tires were about worn clean out on the inner third of the tires, BF Goodrich T/A Radials, that were installed prior to me obtaining the car a few months ago ( I have put less than 1,000 miles on the car).
I had a new set of brake pads for the car, and while inspecting the rotors to determine if I needed to have them resurfaced or buy new ones, the front left rotor was ruined, it had a giant gouge on the inside of the rotor, close to the hub.
I pulled that rotor, and installed a new one while I was installing the new brake pads, the other three rotors were fine.
I got a new rotor for the front left wheel, installed it (new bearing set) I ran a few lug nuts down to secure the rotor so I could install the caliper and new brake pads.
I gave the new rotor a whirl to double check my install of it to the hub, and found that my brand new rotor was spinning around way out of true. Lots more than .002-.004. I do not have a dial indicator, but that thing is seriously out of whack.
Guy I bought it from had a rebuild effected on the front suspension and supposedly got it aligned and new tires installed on the front.
The car does not drift, shimmy or wobble, goes down the road fine.
Is my hub bent or spindle bent?
Curiosity got the best of me. and I put the car up on jacks stands at all four corners. I pulled all four wheels and tires, much to my surprise, both front tires were about worn clean out on the inner third of the tires, BF Goodrich T/A Radials, that were installed prior to me obtaining the car a few months ago ( I have put less than 1,000 miles on the car).
I had a new set of brake pads for the car, and while inspecting the rotors to determine if I needed to have them resurfaced or buy new ones, the front left rotor was ruined, it had a giant gouge on the inside of the rotor, close to the hub.
I pulled that rotor, and installed a new one while I was installing the new brake pads, the other three rotors were fine.
I got a new rotor for the front left wheel, installed it (new bearing set) I ran a few lug nuts down to secure the rotor so I could install the caliper and new brake pads.
I gave the new rotor a whirl to double check my install of it to the hub, and found that my brand new rotor was spinning around way out of true. Lots more than .002-.004. I do not have a dial indicator, but that thing is seriously out of whack.
Guy I bought it from had a rebuild effected on the front suspension and supposedly got it aligned and new tires installed on the front.
The car does not drift, shimmy or wobble, goes down the road fine.
Is my hub bent or spindle bent?
I bet the car turns in very quickly into corners and on a straight road responds very quickly with little steering input. Probably darts side to side a lot when driving in road ruts.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 2,632
Likes: 112
From: Great Plains Iowa
As your tires are wearing out on the inner 3rd your camber is way out of whack so you need to get it aligned again. As far as your new rotor being out of true you must hold the rotor against the flange HARD using 3 lug nuts because without the lug nuts it'll be loose and give a false reading.
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 22
Likes: 0
Time to eat some crow. I made a rookie mistake, first time to separate the rotor from the wheel hub by drilling out the rivets. I failed to fully remove all of the rivet material form the mating surface of the hub and new rotor, resulting in my "wobble.
Thanks for the replies, now I can get a 4 wheel alignment for my 81 model. Cagotzmann you nailed it on how the car currently handles. I sure hope it improves when the alignment is effected.
Thanks for the replies, now I can get a 4 wheel alignment for my 81 model. Cagotzmann you nailed it on how the car currently handles. I sure hope it improves when the alignment is effected.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,116
Likes: 598
Time to eat some crow. I made a rookie mistake, first time to separate the rotor from the wheel hub by drilling out the rivets. I failed to fully remove all of the rivet material form the mating surface of the hub and new rotor, resulting in my "wobble.
Thanks for the replies, now I can get a 4 wheel alignment for my 81 model. Cagotzmann you nailed it on how the car currently handles. I sure hope it improves when the alignment is effected.
Thanks for the replies, now I can get a 4 wheel alignment for my 81 model. Cagotzmann you nailed it on how the car currently handles. I sure hope it improves when the alignment is effected.
http://tech.corvettecentral.com/2011...ignment-specs/
Also get a before and after sheet so you can see what changes they actually made. A lot of shops do a 4 wheel alignment but never change the rear. Also you may need to provide your own shims for the rear trailing arms.
Before you take the car in make sure they have shims in stock. If they don't then they will not be able to do a proper alignment.
