knocking noise

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

i am having too many problems lately with my car especially after putting the 15inch new alloys on .
today i swapped all the alloys and put the 2 michelins with the same amount of thread on to the front and the other 2 wheels in the back .
now i can hear that knocking noise from the drivers front side ,its a knocking noise and i can hear it espcially when i am driving in the 1st and 2 gears while pulling and also while turning the round abouts slowly . can it be the wheel bearings ???
cant hear or feel anything at all when drivinf faster (over 30mph)
help please

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

sounds a bit like CV joint trouble...might be coincidence with the alloys.

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

is there a way to find out what it is without taking it to a garage?

Site Subscriber Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 1139

could b bushe's (4giv the spelling as im Pissed after the Celtic game Sad

well FUKIN gutted) or sumthing else LOL

Am blitzzed!

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

got to find out whats going on,it does not feel right? will take the wheel out and look for something unusual not that i know what i am looking for though

Site Subscriber Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 4722

most prolly CV joints are worn or out of greace. duno if alloys can affect it?, unless there slightly unbalanced?!?

i got same trouble with mine..only today turning ruond the corner, i put me foot down and heard a relly loud bang, so much so it made my cd player face dislodge. not to healthy

duno what that was. gonna ave a look at it soon.

also got a really annoying humming noise, gets louder as speed increases. think its drive shafts :/ cant be the speedo cable..well not that loud ne way?

Level 6 User Joined: 20 Jun 2004 Posts: 155

CV joints are the obvious choice, but may not necessarily be the right one. How often are you getting the knocking sound? Does it speed up with the vehicle speed or not?

Checking the CVs isn't really that easy I don't think - you basically look at the driveshafts to see if any of the gaiters are split as a quick and dirty check, as if the gaiter is ripped or loose then the chances are the grease inside will have leaked out, meaning the joint is running dry which will make it knock. However, it could still be a CV even if the gaiter looks ok as you can't always see a hole, and sometimes the joints do just get knackered (like if you do lots of hard accelerating while on heavy steering locks). I think Chris suggested in another topic that a duff joint will hang down differently under the car, but I could be imagining it. Otherwise its a case of getting close to the driveshafts and turning them to see if you can hear any noises.

Oh one thing I will say is that I had a thumping noise which I thought was a CV, but it turned out that it was just a knackered tyre. I think it was probably the one which had had a puncture repair done on it, and this had not worn evenly with the rest of the tyre hence giving me an uneven tyre and a very irritating "thump thump thump" noise, more so when steering right. So if it moves around when you move the wheels, check your tyres carefully Smile

Cheers
Alex

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

it dont get the sound often ,its only sometimes when i am turning corners (right turn) slowly .and a bigger knocking noise comes when i accelerate on the 1st or second gear than it turns to a series of little knocking noises ,its definitely from drivers side (front).

i cant hear anything when i speed up

funny enough one of the tyres had a nail stuck on it i took it out and had the puncture repaired a few days ago but i odnt remember if thats the one on the drivers side now as i had to swap them often lately.

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

shall i just stick 2 of my old 13inch steel wheels in the front and see what happens ?

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

found out today ,knocking only happens turning the steering to the right sligthly ,left turns are ok .
is it dangerous me driving like that for a while ??

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

if it only happens occasionally I woudl look at balljoints and loose bolts.

Project Y has a knackered lower drivers balljoint and on left turns it make a hell of a knocking noise.

CV joints either work or they don't, theres no way to actually check them, they will hang down no different if they are broken or not.

However a lot of daft people jack the car up and then turn the wheels think the shaft is bent because it goes up and down as its rotated, hopw anyone thinks a shaft with very simple tripod joints at the inner end can rotate perfectly at full extension I don't know.

Level 3 User Joined: 05 Aug 2004 Posts: 70

may be worth pulling the CV gaitor back and if its dry then pack it with grease.

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

sorted now ,its me my fault,
i swapped all the wheels the day before and did not tighten drivers side front wheel bolts properly did i ????
that was making the noise
i have been driving on the m4 after for the first time with the new wheels and tyres .god it feels much smoother with high speed ,the car sticks to the road so well .

Site Subscriber Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 4722

hmm, mr extreamly lucky nufin happend.

know of a very bad story that started out with loose whell nuts

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

i know i have been a naughty boy lately ,luckily i have not been driving the car that long in that situation . dangerous that was .

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

lol u jammy sod...

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

loose wheel bolts are all part of the fun.

Project Y had a loose rear wheel, made some racket.

Sonejis old clio had a loose wheel and we were tanking along at some rate with it.

On a slight left there was a noise like you wouldn't beleive thats when we decided to slow and then investigate.

Level 6 User Joined: 20 Jun 2004 Posts: 155

I think I've seen a car that wasn't so lucky with loose wheel bolts on the north circular road in london - it was skidded off the road with a front wheel missing, a deep slice into the road surface, and the hub which had the missing wheel ground down flat on the bottom!

I've also seen some guy whose top suspension wishbone had gone snap, and his front wheel was lying flat on the road half under the car, still attached to the bottom wishbone. Now THAT must have been an interesting experience for the driver...

You would think you would get enough warning of something like that happening to do summit about it before your wheels start falling off Smile

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

i have heard of a few incidents too but never thought i would be so ferkin careless . lucky me

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

accidents liek balljoints popping, wishbones snapping etc tend to happen at lower speeds.

Fixed many a car thats tried to hammer out of a junction for the bottom balljoint to give way pulling the driveshaft out the box etc.

More load on components like these at lower speeds.

I towed the white chamade for a good bit when the lower wishbone poppe dout due to someone not putting in the pinch bolt, that was fun.