Noises and how to know if my mechanic is screwing

[Chris]

Ok, so I’ve pretty much narrowed down how to reproduce the noise/vibration and it goes like this:

0-30mph no sounds/vibrations at all

30-40mph depending on the radius of the right turn I can hear/feel (via gas peddle) a thumping/vibration (no squealing or creaking) sound

40mph+ no matter the radius (even the slightest right turning of the wheel) I can hear/feel it

The only other (at least REALLY noticeable) sound is when (regardless of speed) I drive over a speedbump for example, almost like (in terms of a layman who knows NOTHING about cars outside of how to change brakes/oil) when the wheel gets a jolt of up/down motion to it.

The only other really noticeable thing is if I’m a dead stop and give it a surge of gas it makes a quick thump sound, no resistance or anything just a quick thump sound and that’s it. If I ease off the light no sound.

So, I’m kinda curious what your opinions are of what it could be. I went to my local mechanic (who I do usually goto) and he took it out for a drive to show him all the symptoms. So he comes back and while I’m not sure if he put the car on a lift or even took the wheel off (I’m pretty sure he didn’t, if he did he didn’t spend more than 10 minutes doing it) but he then comes back with:

CV Complete Assembly $129
Rear Hub Assembly Including Bearing $195
Outer Tie Rod End $30
Control Arm with Ball Join $150
Rotors $45×2
Brakes $60

giving me $660 for the parts and (@$50/hr labor) $330 for labor.

So realistically I’m curious what your guys thoughts are on what it could be and if the prices seem “reasonable”. I did do a quick search on AutoZone and I can get most of the parts for like $50 cheaper if I just bought them (based off the part numbers he gave me) but yea.

Thanks for your time!

Topic

[Mathieu]

Wheel axle will vibrate and you will ear noise from the defective part. You can just replace the defective one, but you can change both side. The wheelp bering, you will ears and feel vibration at any speed, any turn. The fail wheel bearing are going to make an increasing noise when you increase your speed. The control arm are made whit think steel and if they are not rust enough you are still good. I don’t know the year of you car, but the main point id : if you car wheels part are too rusty, you need to change It to avoid car accident.

The noise problem is link whit this video
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd5IcN3yjsg[/video]

This video below is to increase you knowledge about the part that you mechanic will change.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEDrioMDe1k[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAbET9aKq_g[/video]

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1f1bx7SToE[/video]

[Chris]

So then, if as your saying the bearing would make a noise at any speed any direction it’s not/can’t be the bearing? It’s literally ONLY when turning right, and 0-30 is no noise, 30-40 is some noise/vibration depending on the radius of the right turn, and 40+ is noise/vibration with the slightest right turn of the wheel.

[Chris]

Also, don’t know why but none of the videos you posted work. I can’t even see them for some reason.

[Mathieu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEDrioMDe1k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd5IcN3yjsg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAbET9aKq_g

[KZ 259]

it definitely sounds like you got suspension issues and the parts your mechanic listed out should fix the problem. the prices on both the labor and the parts themselves sound pretty reasonable to me. i’m sure you could find cheaper prices on parts, but i wouldn’t go that far and put the cheapest parts i can find and install it on my car

[EricTheCarGuy]

It’s impossible to diagnose noises without hearing them. We can point you in a direction to look but little more. Also, you might need to remove the wheels in order to get a closer look at where the noise is coming from. This video may help. BTW if you don’t see the video then download the latest flash player for your browser and retry.

As for your mechanic I would at least hope he would have pulled a wheel off or something or done a basic inspection. However, if in the past he’s noted something on a work order about parts that might fail then I suppose that would be enough. It’s hard to say though.

[Edwin]

What car is this, and how old is it?

As mentioned, hopefully he did a proper inspection. I get the feeling some of this could be recommended work. He should break everything down for you to understand.

[Chris]

Thanks for the reply Eric and Emphasis. So out of the outer tie rod, c/v, bearing and control arm that my mechanic said was needed to “fix” the problem it was… tie rod. That’s EXACTLY why (as Eric says) people don’t trust mechanics. You take a $30 part/fix and turn it into a $1,000 job. None of it was “recommended” work, his mechanics came back into the lobby and listed all of those off to him on what needed to be fixed.

Needless to say we replaced both tie rod ends, and outside of the sloppiness on the drive home as soon as I got an alignment everything was amazing. There’s no noise/feeling at all now, with any type of driving/terrain.

[John B Kobberstad]

Thanks for posting this fix for the problem you encountered.

[Author]

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