Hey everybody,

Here's the setup.

2G AWD.
GC Coilovers set to +/- 1.6" drop.
Koni yellows set to max hard minus 120 degrees.
18x8.5 wheels.
235 40 18 tires.

About 2 weeks ago I took a sharp and fast right hand turn. I expected some drift but, instead, the front driver side wheel seemed to do a couple of wobbles, it almost felt like when a higher sidewall tire "rolls over" and then springs back.

Since that time, whenever I'm taking a right hand turn that produces moderate to heavy weight transfer to that driver side front wheel, there is a cyclic grinding feeling from that corner. I can't hear a grinding/squeaking, it's mostly just felt in the footwell and steering wheel. The grinding seems to be in concert with the wheel rotation.

When driving straight at any speed, there is no shimmy or wobble. The car tracks straight(well, as straight as any car does with this width of wheel. Should have gotten 7.5" wide.)

When making normal speed right hand turns, this grinding is NOT felt. When making any speed left hand turns, there is no grinding.

I jacked her up tonight and there is no up/down play on the wheel, which leads me to suspect it is not a bearing problem.

Wheel is torqued properly to the hub. CV boots are in excellent condition. No evidence of inside sidewall of tire rubbing on anything. Brake rotors are still OEM and are slightly warped.

Because the grinding occurs at the same rate as the wheel rotation, I think that the problem can not be attributed to non-rotating parts (ie. ball joints or other geometric components.) There is no clicking when turning tight radii at low speed which rules out the common indicator for the CV joint.

Any ideas what to check next?

Wade

Check to make sure the clips didn't come off your brake pads on that side.
They hold the pad to the caliper.

Rob,

Thanks for the idea. I checked the brake pad clips on your advice and they seem to be fine. I will be rotating the tires tomorrow so maybe something will be obvious once I get the wheel off.

It also occurred to me that the top of the tire may be rubbing on the wheel well when the body leans all the way over in that direction. I will be checking that tomorrow as well.

With 18'' rims and a lowered suspension ti could be rubbing. It could be a sign of a strut tower bearing starting to go. Since its only one side that does it . It still could be the tire rubbing but not because fo size. Worn ball joints? Tie rod ends, jack the one side up and try to wobble the wheels fromleft to right and do the same going up and down. If a little play is felt then you could have worn tie rod/ball joint ect. Good luck.

Also check your coilover sleeve, perhaps it broke during your turn (i've had both my front ones break on me from hard driving, but that was probably also due to running with crappy struts).

Matt

StupidWade strikes again.

Well thanks for all the ideas guys. I'm afraid the likely solution turned out to be a bit simpler (read "stupider") than I expected.

I finally pulled the wheel and, sure as s**t, the top of the tire has been rubbing on the wheel well.

The driver's side coil-over is set 1/4" lower than the passenger's side. This, in combination with the driver's weight (I only do my fancy driving when there's no passengers) must be enough to force the front left corner down onto the tire.

As my first attempt at a fix, I have dialed the front struts to full stiff and have adjusted the FR coilover up 1/4" and the FL coilover up 1/2".

I'll post whether this has fixed the problem or not.

Note: There is also evidence of the front passenger side wheel rubbing the wheel well at some point in the past. The smaller, shallower rub mark indicates that it happens much less frequently, however.

Thanks again,

StupidWade.

Update

Raising the front end 1/2" wasn't enough, but I'm on the right track as the "grinding" is now greatly reduced and only occurs on extremely sharp high speed turns. I'll have to go up another 1/4" or 1/2" to eliminate the problem entirely.

End of thread.

Wade

New update.

It was a CV joint all along. Both inner and outer joints failed completely without either boot being damaged at all. The grinding noise I heard was indicating the beginning of their failure.

When I raised the car a bit it may have reduced the stress on the joint temporarily, but the damage had been done and the axle is now effectively separated on both the hub and tranny ends. The only things keeping the assembly together are the boots.

Probable solution to similar problems in the future: No extremely sharp, tight right hand turns.