Dang, I just typed this whole thing and it disappeared before I could post it

Okay, I have a vibration that seems to come from the right front when I am in a right hand turn. It occurs when I have turned the wheel about 15% to the right and your can feel it in your feet (driver and passenger) and if it's quiet (windows up and radio off) you can even hear it. It's not loud or rough or metalic like brakes or something.

I just put new tires on around the time I first noticed this and I thought the right front tire was touching something in the wheel well like a piece of plastic. I pulled both front wheels and inspected everything and no sign of any contact.

I also put new LG Long tube headers on the same week and so my second thought was a header tube or part of the exhaust was coming into contact when turning right from the torque or something. I inspected the entire system and no obvious points of concern. I originally thought it was the steering shaft because on my F-Body there's a huge knuckle that commonly made contact with some headers when the shaft turned but no way with this setup.

So, now I'm wondering if it could be a front wheel bearing, specifically the drivers side since the vibration / noise seems to come from the right. The car has seen 6 to 8 days of HPDE and wheel bearings typically go on the left side first since most courses run a majority of right handers.

Anyway, any ideas? The car has 13,000 miles. If it is a wheel bearing would that be a warranty issue?

TIA

 

Hmm, no one has any experience with wheel bearings? I guess I will repost this in the road race section.

 

OK, let's start ruling things out.

You say your feet? Do you have your feet on the brakes while it happens?

If you jack your car up and yank on the wheel, usually a bad wheel bearing will show signs of "play". If it is rock solid, it still could be a bearing, but more unlikely. It could be a bad rotor. Did you look on the inside of the wheel to see if all the balancing weights were attached?

Next check your A arm bushing to see if they have "popped" out of have deformed, then check your sway bars to make sure their connection is TIGHT.

Come back after you have done all the above.

Also, check your calipers to make sure they are torqued properly.

 

you AH/TC isn't kicking in is it????

Wheel bearing are loaded harder when turning in the opposite direction, but you need to jack the car up and inspect for play (tug wheel top/bottom and note excess play). Also, it should roll freely by hand when in the air.

Is the vibration variable with speed, ie is it an oscilating noise that increases as speed increases, OR is it just a continuous grind????

I would also inspect to make sure there are no rocks sitting on top of that caliper. They can get thrown up into the caliper, and just bounce around between the caliper, rotor, and wheel in some cases.

 

Not braking. I imagine it could be felt in the seats if they weren't upolstered. It's just that your feet sit on the floor boards.

I inspected all these areas but not with a super critical eye. I will do that again this weekend

 

No

I do that as routine when I put my tires back on but I honestly don't remember feeling any play. At that time (this weekend) I was still thinking a physical contact somewhere so I wasn't looking for play specifically related to the wheel bearings. I will definitely check it again.

It is constant, not variable. As a matter of fact, if I'm taking a hard right, I don't notice it. It is when I am at about 15-20 % right. If I carry through harder right, it goes away <shrug> Oh, and it's not a grind, as in metalic.

I checked the calipers, pads, etc. pretty good so I don't think there are any stones in there. I will recheck all my torque values.

Thanks for the input David!

 

Could it be the tire?

 

I originally thought it was tire or tire related but I looked them over pretty good and don't see any indication of a tire issue. They are new tires with just a few hundred miles on them. I guess I could take it over to Discount, where I got them, and have them look at the tires but I doubt that's the problem.

 

I had a similar problem/noise that I thought might be driveline related. I took the car to Excelsior Motorsports (Kushan) where he had sophisticated stethascope type equipment to locate noises. The result was that he found the noise in the front right wheel bearing, which he replaced and it took care of the problem. I recommend you do the same. Kushan is an expert and honest Corvette specialist and he is in San Diego ( excelsiormotorsports.com ). Warning, the part isn't a cheap one since the hub and bearing and ABS sensor are all one unit which retails for about $450.00.

Good luck.

 

Hmm, did he run alongside the car with his stethascope? j/k

Mine only does this while moving and in a turn. I would be hopeful that if it is a bearing it will be a warranty issue anyway. If not, I certainly wouldn't pay to have someone install it for me. I'm sure the part can be purchased from our forum parts supplier. Oh, I know Kushan well. He did my tune but thanks for the recommendation.

I thought you had a fairly new car too? Did GM refuse to fix it for you?

 

Mine's a 06 and was hit while parked, pushing the front wheel into the curb. When being repaired, the wheel bearing did not appear to be damaged and was only found after I got the car back and had driven it for awhile, noticing the noise. So the relacement was covered by insurance as part of the original repair. GM warranty wasn't an issue.

Kushan didn't do any running! His shop setup allowed dynamic testing plus the concurrent listening device use.

 

I doubt if this is it, but isn't there some kind of a retaining ring or clip on the hubs or studs of each wheel? I thought I read that these can cause an improper seating and that they can be removed easily and with no negative effects.

 

There are thin retaining/locking washers that merely hold the rotors on the studs; mostly as an essembly aide, but they are long gone on my car as I routinely swapped out rotors for street and track.

 

check suspension is all tight like control arms. Make sure you tires are not to big.