Quick VR-4

iTrader: (2)

My car is a 1992 SC400 with approx. 120k miles. About 2 months ago, it developed a problem that felt like a broken belt in my tire. The best way I can describe it is a "broken wagon wheel". It felt like it was coming from the front right and when I banked into a corner that put the weight of the car on the left, the feeling disappeared. I went back to the factory wheels and tires thinking a wheel might be warped or bad tire and same thing. My mechanic diagnosed it as a bad wheel bearing. Replaced the front and it was still there. Replaced the rear and same thing. Now he is saying that these rear-ends are like a Corvette that needs to be shimmed??? Any ideas??? The sound and feeling increases and decreases with speed and feels like I am running over tiny speed bumps only on the front right. Any help would be greatly appreciated as they just keep spending money replacing things that may not even be related.

Thanks,

LexusFTW

iTrader: (7)

Hmm...take it to another mechanic. If the first mechanic doesnt fix it/diagnose it right the first time then he's not a good mechanic.

MJHSC400

that sounds really odd-- Replacing a wheel bearing would've been a good idea, but those can be checked for play-- and you can determine whether they are good or not.. They were obviously good..

He's wasting your time. Your problem sounds strange.



First, it sounds like your lca bushings on the right side are shot, and possibly your brake caliper is dragging on a rotor that happens to be warped. This would be from a possibly siezed caliper with siezed pins causing it to drag. If you can spin the rotor freely by hand with the wheel off, that's not your problem.

It sounds like a long shot, but honestly I would've expected the wheel bearing myself, and replaced it too. (I just did one for $75 btw)

What I would do is first take off the wheel, and pry against the lca b/t the mount and the bushing to see if the lca bushings are shot, if they are they should have a lot of play when you pry on them...

I guess you could just try to spin the brake rotor by hand, if it spins freely with no drag, there is only one thing I could think of, a bent axle-----

A bent axle would very likely be hard to visually detect, but you could jack the front of the car up and spin your wheel to see if it's spinning wobbly... You could also hold a stick or a ruler against the edge of the tire while it's spinning to determine if it's off center.

This is all I could think of, besides both tires being out of balance, but you could also swap different wheels to the front right corner --- if you have a new wheel bearing in, and it still does it, it still sounds like to me that the axle/shaft is bent...

I think Gazi could hook you up with one if you need it... (his name is aliga on here)

MJHSC400

By the way, it only took me 2 hrs labor to replace the front wheel bearing.

This guy's a joke bro, get your car back.

96gti2.0t

yeah i would have went with a wheel bearing which would say your tech is going in the right direction and might just need more time to futher diag.

96gti2.0t

it miht be hub but i would see what your tech says they should give u a break on the labor since they miss diag. it the first time

Quick VR-4

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the advise. I never really thought about the brakes as I replaced the stock with some aftermarket rotors about 8-10 months ago. The caliper seemed to be fine, but that does not mean something is wrong now. The hub and LCA bushings are another good direction to go in with the number of miles my car has. I think I will thank him for his time tomorrow and get my car back. Anymore ideas are welcomed.

Quick VR-4

iTrader: (2)

**********UPDATE - FIXED************

Mechanic stayed late last night and I had every intention of picking the car up today regardless. Turns out that it was the front left wheel bearing that had went bad which stumped him too. When the load of the car went to the left, it stopped, but as soon as 50/50 weight returned the RIGHT side of the car would thump and cause a sensation of running over small speedbumps. He said he was not sure either, but at least it is fixed. He also only charged me an 1 1/2 hours to change the front two wheel bearings and right rear which took him much longer. Overall, I am just glad to have her back running right.

Jonathan o

Good to hear you got the car back. Sounds like your mechanic is honest.

MJHSC400

Don't you hate those perplexing things that turn out to be simple.

That could've been checked for play also....

At least you have new bearings! You might as well replace the other one too.


Sounds cheap too... But a week??

Quick VR-4

iTrader: (2)

He suggested the same thing about replacing the left rear bearing since the other three were new. The work was done well and not a bad price, the only draw back was the timeframe. The shop has a 4 car garage bay and he did take the care to store my car inside the entire time instead of sitting outside which was another plus. Thanks for the help guys and now I can finally enjoy my SC again.