Subaru WRX CV Joints?

I'm 99.9 % sure there is nothing wrong with the CV axles. Willing to bet money if you spend the $1k all you will get will be the 4 original joints cleaned and new boots. Dealer ends up making roughly $900 on this "repair". and you still have the same problem

Check the front sway bar and steering rack for looseness. Sounds to me a sway bar bushing has rolled in its bracket or maybe the steering rack is a little loose.

In 332,300Km on a Liberty wagon, the only cvs or w/bearngs replaced were following a reasonably major collision. That distance sounds unusual teh car is damaged, abused, or not maintained (Note - *not* an accusation!) Can't see why all four would spontaneously give out & if it is the case, two reco shafts should save you heaps on that quote.

Can you be any more specific. Is the noise there *all* the time on any sort of turn? e.g: once it's warmed up, or just uphill, downhill, flat, light or tight turns, power on or off. If it's only some, more info might help immensely. How well can you describe the actual noise? Cheers

Once the car is warm the noise is always there. It's not noticeable on the highway or high speed turns. The noise is most apparent when maneuvering through a parking lot. Basically it is a repeated knocking at the same intervals as the wheels turn. It's there even when the car rolls with no gear engaged. The thumping part can even be felt inside the car. The car is well maintened and taken care of. About a week before this happened I was driving at around 60MPH and heard something hit pretty hard under my car. When I looked back it appeared to be a rock that was on the highway. I don't know if this had anything to do with this or not.

Thanks again to all who have helped with this.

hippo wrote:

Could this be a split in your tire tread? I've seen such tire defects cause this kind of thumping in cars.

Since the thump is there even when coasting, it can't be the CV axles. Knowing now you ran over something has me thinking a bent rim or a broken tire chord. Try rotating the tires and then hopefully the thump will have moved to the rear of the car.

my bro has a similar problem in his 96 mitsu galant. we couldn't figure it out until he bought new ties and the tire guy told him he had a slightly bent rim on a front wheel, and recommended to put that wheel on the rear. now the thumping isn't noticeable.

All good advice in these 3 posts. Agree can't be CVs unless they've all spontaneously totally destroyed themselves. Ditto hub splines and probably ditto bearings.

Try the tyre rotate. Before you do, jack up each front wheel, rotate wheel and check for a visible wheel wobble or a bubble in the tyre tread. If it goes away on a front to back swap, yep, it's a rim or a tyre. Otherwise, sounds like a bent shaft or remote outside chance that something punched a shaft into the diff housing hard enough to damage something outside. Wheel or tyre likeliest. Cheers

If it's an auto, try putting in the FWD fuse. have you had occasion to drive with a donut spare or different sized tire(s) mixed on the car? Could be the center diff. or duty solenoid C. Causes thumping you can feel in sharp slow turns.

hope it is a tire/rim

Carl

hippo wrote:

Don't forget to closely examine the front sway bar bushings and endlinks.

did, it would rub on the gas filler neck (great design), making a horrible noise over bumps, and when turning. I have heard this is not uncommon, especially if you carry anything heavy in your trunk, or drive the car "hard" into turns. If you have put larger sway bars on it, the stock perches will break. I finally put Whiteline perches on it, and no problems since. If is is a "creaking" noise, it is just the sway bar bushings, as mine did that with the stock bushings, and the urethane ones. This can be irritating, but not causing any harm.

I finally got this fixed. It ended up being the center differential so it was a free replacement. The fact that I had to give the dealer a list of things to check isn't too reassuring. Even worst was that one dealer tried to charge 1K for replacing something that was not broken. I guess that some dealers out there don't know much about the cars they sell.

WRX-F1 wrote:

A few weeks ago I went by the dealership to pick something up and the service manager asked me if my STi was a 2001 model! Give me a break! The first production year was 2004 for the U.S. It's not like you could mix the STi up with another Subaru. If the Service manager doesn't know what the current years production vehicles, run, don't walk away! BlueSTi "Scary-Fast"

SELF hi-5 !

Carl

WRX-F1 wrote:

Good call on that one Carl! I was ready to trade in my car if I couldn't find a solution. For a 2K5 WRX of course :)

Carl 1 Lucky Texan wrote:

"Even a blind hog finds an acorn occasionally"

Carl

WRX-F1 wrote: