please help!
 

okay! i was on the free way tonight, and i just got on from the on ramp...
and i wasnt even going the speed limit yet and i start to hear this noise.

and i start to get to 70mph and i hear this


THUMP.THUMP.......THUMP.THUMP........THUMP.THUMP.. ....THUMP.THUMP


from the left hand side of my car, well the drivers side wheel



what could this be??


i know its somthing that has to do with suspention...but what???


things you might need to know.

the alignment is horrible.. its pretty bad
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...0512001753.jpg
edit:thats me driving straight

my car has been smelling almost like somthing burning,

my tires are horrible!! from either camber or tow

the look somthing like this, cept the the wire is showing along the entire inside about a centimeter
edit: took out the picture it was too big


what can i check? what i can do? and where can i start?

The tirewear is likely due to toe. Camber angle will not make the tires tear very quickly, and will not cause a smell.
I'm naturally guessing the burning smell is of rubber?

As for your sound, get under the car and look. Seriously. Check everything you can. Does the car bounce around with the thump sound?

*edit*
Oh hell, your showing that kind of metal? Get new tires, now. Your fixing to have a real bad day. Tires that gone tend to just blow. If blown at speed can cause a major loss of control and damage to your rims. Getting an alignment should only cost around $60. I'm betting the thump thump sound is due to your tires. The sound increases with your speed right?

You need an alignment and the tires replaced. You definitely have some toe problems. You may need to have a tie rod replaced or something... the shop you take it to will tell you when they go to give it an alignment if anything is wrong.

That tire wear either could be from the toe, or it could even be rubbing against the wheelwell. Do your tires rub?

If you have coilovers I would seriously consider raising them up a little bit.


Also, it sounds silly, but go check your lug nuts and make sure they are tightened down.

yess i am guessing its from the burning rubber.


yes its loud thud noise, i here it when i bounce, and i bounce almost all the time, its like this popping thud noise from the left side



yes the noise gets progressively louder the faster i go


whats a tie rod? i know its a dumb question

no my tires do not rub any more, when i bought it they rubbed extremely bad, i raised it 2 inches in the front. and now its fine but the ride is still bumpy




okay i think i will do that, i hope thats the only thing wrong

who invited this guy?

That tire is shot. It has probably developed a bulge on one side because it is about to blow. Since it is no longer round, you get a once around thump. Do not drive on that tire any more. The steel belts hold a tire together. When they wear through, the tire has no structural integrity.

The tie rod is basically what transfers the motion of you turning the steering wheel, to the wheels of the car, allowing them to turn. If your tires are toed in that badly, and the alignment is that far out of whack, that's most likely the problem. Its actually not too hard to fix(ish)/replace yourself, but if you can get a pro to do it, I'd recommend that. I've had some problems in the past getting pros to do it, mainly because I had an old crap truck, and they said they couldn't have the machine read it because it had bad ball joints.

If you have to do it yourself, remove both tie rods, get them to the specified length (it should say what length in a Haynes Manual or something), put them back on, replace the wheels, and see if you can get a long straight 2x4 or steel tube or something, and place it along the diameter of the back tire, making sure it touches both back and front side of the tire. Look at where the 2x4 touches the front tire, is it touching both the front and back of the tire like it is on the back? If it is, you've just got your alignment close enough for government work, if not, give that side's tie rod a half turn on the sleeve, and repeat until you see it touch both sides of both tires. It won't be perfect, but your tires will thank you.

That Vtec sticker on the side of the car told me there was some hardcore ghetto rigging on the ride, looks good on outside but some people make it look good and sell it, my friend does it all the time, throws a turbo, rims, ebay coilovers on a honda, leaves it untuned and ghetto'd up. and sells it off to someone for a better car, makes a living out of it. What is the car lowered on?

haha dude i am learning the hard way. i wanted a car that didnt have anything done to the engine, so that i didnt have to worrie about engine problems. (because in my past that has always been the problem) i got this car because it was all stock in the engine bay


its lowerd on drop zone coil overs....

and no camber kit.

I have no question that it is your toe.
How do the other tires look?

suprisingly the other tires dont look anything like that at all

i say take the wheel off and look at you inner fender walls for rub marks, and your toe is off like mentioned.

ok but the wierd thing is....is that


the worn out tire is on the right side
and i hear the noises on the left side

I swear, I bet it's your right tie rod.

then why am i hearing noises from the left?

The noise on the left could be a completely unrelated problem.

I would go to a shop and have the steering rack inspected, unless you know what you're looking for and can do it yourself.


You need to do 3 things:

1. Get the steering rack checked, and make sure your suspension is all good and nothing is bent or loose.
2. Get new tires
3. get an alignment (at the same time as fixing problems 1 and 2)

i dont know what to look for =(

i hate going to machanics and saying "i''ve been hearing some noises, "

because then they might want to charge me for things i dont need!

i can change the tie rods my self, and i can put on a camber kit my self,

i am getting tires on sunday, (thats the earliest i can get them)

and then after i get tires i will put on the front camber kit and put on new tie rods

and then get an aliegnment,

You need the tie rod (if it is bad) and camber kit before you get the tires. Unless you plan on BARELY driving in between getting parts. You really should do it all at once.

If you can't buy everything at once then here's what I would do:

1. Tie rod and camber kit
2. lifetime alignment (like $175 but SOOOOO worth it... free alignments forever)
3. new tires
4. free alignment

or if you will be getting new tires very shortly after the tie rods then go
1. tie rod and camber kit
2. tires
3. alignment (I would get lifetime if you can afford to... it's very useful. I've used mine 4 times already, it's paid for itself twice)

okay cool thanks.

i have people telling me that my tires are creating the thumping noise tho

Dude....it's highly likely, that u need new tires. With the tires worn, there could also be an egg in the tires. When you start to drive, does your car shimmy?

i had an egg in my left front tire once but it didn't make any noise, just had the car movin all crazy like

yea, it does shake when i start driving then it goes away. i have felt along the tire i dont feel anything abnormal.

every wear i take it they say its my tires


they said my alignment being so messed up caused the bad tires,

they said its not camber they said the wear is from my tow being so bad.

they said its so bad on the right side because of how my alignment lines up.

when i get new tires on sunday or monday i will then get a camber kit, then get it aligned.

and if it needs new tie rods they will let me know

I told you it was your toe. =P
Why do you want a camber kit? Waste of money really. You would have to have significant camber issues to really need a camber kit. The camber will not really effect your tires until way later in their life.

I am lowered 1.8" and I had -2.4º of camber. Toe was set to 0º. I went through a set of Falken Ziex 512 tires (which are rated at 30,000 miles) in about 10,000 miles with proper rotation and inflation, and the effect camber had on that was easily evident just by looking at the tire.

I used to believe this whole "you need a camber kit" thing was a myth, but it really isn't.


I can only imagine how much camber he has, because according to his pictures, his car is hella low.

yea its really low, i mean onces i have all of the tires off i will take pictures of them for every one.

when you look from the back of my car you can see the tires actualy cambering. if that makes sense, its extremly low do you think i should raise it? i mean the back coil overs or bottomed out and i have about an inch in the front left. what should i do??


i have 900 to spend..

new tires are gonna be about 400 for cheep ones

the alignment will be 50

and idk anything about camber kits, i mean i want one for the long run of my car,

if i were to have been in this possition a few months ago i would have sold the car for at least what i bought it for and then used that 900 to buy a better car,

but i like this one and i want to keep it.

i dont want to spend a lot well becuase i dont have much to work with but

how much does an alright camber kit cost?i know people who rock the ebay kits. i know people say stay away from ebay. but what should i do. realisticly with what i have to spend?

I would go Buddy Club in the front (has stronger metal and is the lowest profile one, which is a big deal since you are so low... it will still probably hit the top of the strut towers though over bumps but it will still allow you to have it lower than other kits would). It's $150, which is not bad for a name brand front camber kit. Plus, it's Buddy Club so you can expect really nice quality.

Then for the rear you can either do the washer trick (you add washers between the stock rear camber arm things and the chassis until the desired alignment is reached), or you can get a rear camber kit. Best deal on the rear is the Blox camber kit at ~$80.

And yea, I would raise the car until there is little to no rubbing or bottoming out.

new tires $408
life time alignment $145
buddy club front camber kit $180

trying to chase a kid who hit my girlfriends at her soccer game, after every thing was finished with on my car.... and breaking my hand...priceless =(


at least its alot easirre to steer, it doesnt shake,
but god damn is it hard to drive with a broken left hand

Damn dude, $408 for tires? What kind of tires did you get?

Buddy Club front camber kit is on ebay for $155 shipped

Lucky that tire didnt blow

yeeeup, sure was.

damn 145 for an alignment... they are only 35$ here

mitch its a life time aliegnment. so i can go when ever i want to get it aliegned.

yeah. i noticed that right now that the camber kits were cheeper, but not buy much. i guess i didnt look good enough, and yea, i'm really glad they didnt blow. i'll post pictures in a minute

so what kind of tires? $408 is a bit much

falkin ZIEX ZE-912


the old ones

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...521001547a.jpg

the old ones were falkin ziex ze-512

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...0521001547.jpg

Yea you got a pretty bad deal. I only paid like $350 for the same tires, and after visiting another shop for something else they told me they could have given me an even better deal.


Next time, shop around or try to haggle. Shop prices are many times negotiable. They want your business and will work with you as long as you aren't ridiculous.

oh wow i think my problem was, is that i got the first tires that were avaleable. every wear needed to order them, and i wanted them that day,

i was freaking out about the shaking and wanted it fixed as soon as i could get it fixed.

you do relize a alignment is good for a very long time and i highly doubt you will get another one with that car. the only reasons you will need another one is if you change the tie rods or something or hit a curb or something and bend something.
another reason why you should have shopped around. dont feel bad about the tires lol, my jeep tires were 800$ but they are some damn good off road tires.

^$145 for lifetime alignment is a good deal man. Sh!t ain't cheap in the city like it is in the middle of nowhere ;)

You never know when you might need an alignment, something could happen, you might change ride height, change out suspension parts, etc. Lifetime alignments are a good idea for anyone who modifies their suspension. Plus, some places even let you transfer the lifetime alignment to another car.

well when i lived in fl it was 60 bucks. i do understand i have great prices here because of my isolation but damn 145 is way to high to do a 10-15 min job.

where the hell are you going that is $60 for a lifetime alignment? I would not recommend small business shops for lifetime alignments, they might be out of business next time you need an alignment and if you move to another city, they most likely won't have a shop there.