I've searched & searched & haven't found the combo of symptoms that I've got. There was 1 thread that mentioned the same symptoms as mine from 2006, but no conclusion was reached.

There's a thump-thump-thump in the passenger's front BUT - only when I'm going straight and coasting. It stops when turning left and right, also when on the gas & brake. I only drove it like this maybe 2 miles & it's been parked a few days while I try to do some research. I'm reading the hub would thump when turning & a cv will be more of a click when turning. Nothing of what I've read about either sound like what's going on with my car. As I speed up, the thump speeds up as well, same as when I slow down. At this time I can't remember if I felt it in the pedal, but I think I did. I'll have to take it out again to check, but haven't had the time to kill since it happened.

The tires are only a few months old & I don't put a lot of miles on, I don't think it has to do with balance. I'm lowered on Dspecs & Road Magnets. This particular problem happened after leaving a store, there was no hard bump hit or anything odd before it started. It has taken a few rough jolts in the past from being lowered, but none in the past few weeks that I can remember.

These clues mean anything to anyone? I swear I just want to light it on fire

I know you have probably thought of it allready, but check for knot's on the sidewall of the tire, inside and outside... Thats about all I got............


98z24, lowered 2", aem intake, cat-back striaght pipes!, cop ligths in the front and rear, 18" liquid metal's, primer black, tint, full audio and video.

jack up the front, put itin nuetral and turn the wheel and see if you can feel any binding or anything. Then just visually chek it over and see if there is anything that looks out of wack. Im guessing the cv is shot.

could be a ball joint, if your just going straight theres not any stress on it so it could make a clunk noise, and while turning it puts it under stress so it cant clunk.

more realistically, i would say its the CV shaft. If the clunk gets faster as you speed up, and slower as you slow down, it has to be something rotating in the suspension. could also be a hub assembly.

jack the car up on that side, then try to move the wheel in different directions, if it moves in and out, its the hub assembly. if it moves all around, its usually the ball joint. you would have to pull the wheel to test the CV shaft.


hope that helps!

^^Not correct.

If the cv is that bad you should be able to roll the wheel around and hear the tump sound..usually if the boot isnt torn its the internal part thats worn and binding..jacking it up will put the cv at a harsh angle and when you turn it you will feel the bind very easily.

A hub when work wont usually make a thump but a humming sound and usually is at higher speeds only..but to check is just how he said.

Thanks for the idea guys! Hopefully we'll get a chance to check it out either Wednesday or Thursday. Sometimes I feel pretty lucky to have a 2nd car, no rush to fix things.

may sound dumb but could also be a flat spot on the tire..

I've pretty much ruled out the tires as a problem. They are nearly new & this started suddenly - I left work & drove to a store & it was fine, then I left the store & had this problem on the way home. Sometimes in the morning it takes a minute or two for flat spots to work out from it sitting, so I have somewhat of an idea of what that feels like.

I feel as though the car is begging to be lit on fire with the fits it's been throwing lately. It's as if it knows I just financed some work on the house & it's guaranteed a spot in the driveway for a while longer. Jerk car

are the wheels tight??

I recently had my truck inspected, and they tightened the one wheel with only 1 lug nut, and left the other 4 loose, and it gave me the exact same problem. I thought it was clutch related since it only happened with no load on the transmission.

John Benham wrote:are the wheels tight??

I recently had my truck inspected, and they tightened the one wheel with only 1 lug nut, and left the other 4 loose, and it gave me the exact same problem. I thought it was clutch related since it only happened with no load on the transmission.

She did just get it inspected but that was a month ago or so. Still, I'll check it out. Getting ready to get it up on ramps in a little. Will let you know the results.

Benham wins the prize! Apparently the morons at NTB left 2 of her lug nuts loose on that right front. Completely gone. The wheels studs look fine. Crappy thing is, now I have to see if I can order one of the acorn nuts and one of the locking nuts that will fit the keys we have. I'm just glad her wheel didn't fall off while she was driving it. Time to find a new place to work on the cars.

so......is my reward in the mail then??

Whenever you get a tracking number.....just let me know.





But seriously, what kind of wheel locks and nuts do you need? stock GM style?

You could probably get a new set cheaper on e-bay, but you can get another one to fit your key, as they only have about 30-50 wheel lock key designs.

The lug nuts we used were an acorn style made by Gorilla

The locks are McGard.

We can get replacement nuts for both styles that will fit our existing locks. Wouldn't cost us more than 20 bucks to buy it ourselves but 20 bucks is 20 bucks. I called the shop and they said to bring it by. I checked all the other lug nuts and the remaining 3 on that wheel were loose. Would have fallen off eventually and definitely were making the wheel wobble.

well at least you got it fixed before any damage was done.

NTB, at least when owned by sears, had a very strict torquing policy, but if you torque them incorrectly (aka with the wheel not flush against the hub, like when you put the wieght of the car on the wheel before its tight), they will back off and cause this. Since the thumping didnt occur immediately, I am guessing this was the situation.

At least if I had a wheel fall off that would have taken care of it & I could stop threatening to light it on fire
Seriously though, NTB could have cause me a pretty nasty accident, jerks.

trust me.....with the training they, and other tire focused stores give thier employees......it is not an uncommon occurance.

In my 2 years at pepboys, there was about 6 wheel offs, and several loose wheels as you had.

Companies dont understand the liability of having young untrained kids doing anything that involves the removal and re-installation of a wheel.

To be honest, I've done this myself. I left the lug nuts loose on a Grand Am GT back when I worked at a chevy dealer. I had a votec kid with me. I got called to do something quick and I assumed that he had tightened them up. Unfortunetly he only put them on finger tight and was expecting me to tighten them up with the impact.

I took the car in and they are making it right. He installed two temporary lug nuts to make sure the wheel wouldn't come off and also ordered the two lug nuts we needed while I was at the store. If we had chrome on there, he could have fixed it right then. I'm happy with how they handled it and I will bring vehicles to them again. Crap happens. Susan did get hurt (thank God) and no damage was done to the car. Was a simple mistake.