I bought a wrecked 2002 LS Sport a while back for $1500. The car looked like it had hit a very big hole or had hit something that caused the driver's side front to be pushed up. It had to be put on a frame machine and pulled back out~ the front driver's side strut and mount were replaced. Now, I drive the car daily but I'm having some issues with the suspension. Since the car has been fixed~ I've had it alligned and I installed a rear sway bar. Here are the issues I'm still having:

1) Whenever I hit a slight~ very slight~ bump in the road the car veers to one side VERY faintly-- it does not do it on straight streches or such like it did before I had it aligned.... sometimes it will veer to both sides~ it will veer right then left. It's nothing drastic but it's noticeable.

2) Whenever I'm NOT on the highway~ whenever I'm on a gravel road or a poorly paved road I hear a slight rattle noise coming from the driver's side front~ I'm assuming it has to do with the suspension.

3) Whenever I go to take a sharp turn or whenever I go to pull out and go left/right the car makes a decently loud cracking noise.

4) When going around a curve I hear a slight pitter/patter noise (no other way to describe it really).

5) Whenever I apply the breaks the car wobbles horrible~ I know this is a result of the breaks being warped though. My question about this issue is: how long can the car be driven with warped breaks? because I don't have the money to replace them right now.

6) Also~ not an issue I'm having but just a general question~ how can you tell if a rim is warped or a tire has a broken cord in it?

Thanks in advance
~Sami

1-4.... with being there and hearin it/checking it out I can't help you out.

5... noone can give you an answer.... the parts obviously bad and need to be replaced, noone can give an acurtate guess on how long bad parts with hold up.

6... put the car on jack stands and spin the tires by hand. Look at the tread straight on if ther eis a shifted/broken belt there will be a section of the thread thats not flat and level liek the rest of it, also check the sidewalls for bubbles form impact breaks and last would be to look at the lip of the wheel while your spinning it. As a side note DO NOT put the car on jackstands in drive to spin it, the rear wheels will spin nice and free as long as the parking brake is off, the fronts will have some resistance, put the car in nuetral and spin them, worst case scenario rotate them to the rear and spin them on the back again.

1-4 sounds like something in the control arm (bushings, bolts, ball joint) but that's just a guess.
5 They're just annoying as hell, wont fail or anything drastic.
6 Like DarkStars said, spin it as fast and you can (reasonably) and look for non-uniformity. Usually pretty easy to spot.

Thanks guys. I had to take it to my mechanic today after school though. It was jerking just whenever~ not only going over bumps and such~ it would slightly jerk to the right then to the left for no apparent or good reason.
I asked him to look over everything pretty thoroughly.... so I don't die and all.

yeah Dieing is overrated, you may want to put it off till later but its up to you

my cav wanders too... bad steering rack have yours checked

in all honesty, if you buy a car like this....right when you get it.... i would seriously consider taking it to a gm dealer or authorized place like car max and have the 100+ point inspection done on it.


not saying get it fixed there, but shell out a bit of cash to have safety features checked.

alot of times subframes have been known to shear off from force.

Well, the issue with the veering from right to left was fixed. It was the front left axle. My mechanic told me it was pretty much gone... lol

The rattling was some lose bolts in the rack and pinion~ which I had had replaced.

He also informed me that my tires were square (which is the reason behind the pitter/patter noise), but I'm getting new ones this weekend~ so no issue there.

NOW the only issue I am STILL having is this loud cracking noise which has actually increased since I had I got the car back today. It cracks when I go around curves and when I hit the breaks. It's def. coming from the suspension area (of course) but what part-- I don't know. It's hard to pinpoint the exact location while driving the car. I don't know @!#$ about suspension anyway, so it's going to be hard for me to pinpoint no matter what.

So... three outta four of the problems I had are fixed.... working on the other one.

A 100+ point inspection doesn't sound bad.... how much would one of those run me?

The cracking noise might be suspension bushings/ball joints. Jack up the front with the suspension hanging.
Grab the tire and pull the h*ll out of it front-back, up-dn..etc and see if you can find any motion. Then put a floor jack under the lower control arm, repeat above process. If it occurs with the floor jack in place, it's something in the upper portion strut..etc. If it occurs when it's hanging, look at the lower portions. Also the pulling in-out on the front & back of the tire will help you look at the tie-rod ends.
Don

It could also be a bad hub but I am also leaning towards ball joints.

does it make the noise while your are braking or only when you don't have the brakes applied? Loose brake pads can sound like that

They told you that your tires were square? What? Now, I work in a tire shop, and that is a term I have never heard used before, never. Out of round or seperated would be more like it, but that would cause a vibration when driving.

And, I don't get this. You don't have the money to get 2 new rotors and some pads, but you have the money for tires? Tires are more expensive than brakes. Personally, I would do brakes first, because they are highly important.

Now, since you may have a seperated tire, this could be a bad question, but does your car shimmy or vibrate at all when on the highway? Because if you had bad balljoints, that could cause a vibration. Take it to a shop, and they will check all of that stuff, for free. They should have done when you told them to check it over when you had it in the shop though. Hubs, I don't think those would creak, but they might. Those are an easy fix, costly depending on what you get.



1983 Camaro Z28

New tires are on the top of my list. I don't have money for brakes right now because I'm on the verge of having a blow-out. The tires are dry- rotted and won't hold air very well (not sure if them being dry rotted is a reason they're not holding air). I have to fill a different tire up every other morning. My mechanic used the term square and I'd never heard it either, but he just said it means the tires have a lot of flat spots in them from inproper balancing or ~ in my case~ being in a damn wreck... lol. The breaks work fine... they're just annoying. My mechanic assured me that the breaks would be okay. He did look over everything pretty well & he's been our mechanic for 20+ years now, so I trust him.

The cracking sound actually stopped after I drove the car for a while (driving about two days). Now, I don't really have any noise coming from the car... except all the road noise due to the @!#$ty ass tires.

I knew I was getting into a lot buying a wrecked salvage title vehicle and whenever we get the other wrecked vehicle we bought fixed (lol), I'll be able to worry more about getting this one fully inspected. Until then you guys are my resource and I appreciate all the advice and info so much~! I've looked into most of the stuff you guys have suggested or said it could be and if I have any probs in the future {because I know I will}, I know where to come!

Oh, basically the reason your tires are wearing like that is because your car needs aligned. I can't remember if you said it was aligned or not. I call that "chopping" when a tire wears like that. And I would say that if your tires are about to blow, yes get those first.. lol. Atleast your creaking noise stopped as well, I know how annoying that stuff can be. For your brakes, you might be able to see if it's your squealer tab touching the rotor causing the noise, if it is you could just take that squealer tab off and it might quiet the noise down some.





1983 Camaro Z28