My mother has a 93 SL2 with 107000 miles on it and when it is driving there is a very loud thumping noise coming from the right front of the car and the higher the speeds the louder and more frequent it becomes. Is this a CV Joint or a wheel bearing? If either, what difficulty would both of these be to fix. Thanks alot in advance.
Fixing the CV joint and wheel bearing is pretty simple - take the car to your dealer.
As for your mother, you're on your own on that one...
Mike, I had a wheel bearing go at 120K. I just replaced both sides as the other side was so-so. But the sound that it made was not a thumping sound, but it was more like a loud "purr" that got louder. For the most part, I fixed them myself. You have to remove the axle nut, rotor, caliper and spindle. The bearing and seals cost me about $50/side in parts and $25 each to install in the spindles that in brought in. While I had it a part, I saw I needed a ball joint which required a "lower arm" replacement. As a matter of fact if a CV boot was marginal, now's the time.
In your case, if it is a really bad CV joint, the CV boot most likely will be torn. CV's usually just click around turns; a thumping should be something else.
Good Luck, chuck (94 SL1)
ps: as the 2 large bolts were removed that attach the strut to the sp> My mother has a 93 SL2 with 107000 miles on it and when it is driving there
Tire out of balance. Tire balancing is cheap, easy, and needs to be done routinely anyway.
Any out-of-balance tire will make a thumping noise but if the noise is exessive it could also indicate that the McPherson struts may be worn. In that case the car would exhibit handling and ride problems. You'd still need to get the tires balanced though.
Another possibility, an out-of-round tire. In that case, tire replacement is the only fix.
CV joints typically make clicking noises in turns.
Wheel bearings make a growling, grinding noise that sounds a little like driving over a coarse gravel road.
-- Robert Henry
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