Odd pulsation

[redguardian]

Ill start off with saying I am mechanically inclined and I do all of my own work. Having said that, I have a 2007 Honda Civic Si with 121,000 miles. I am experiencing a slight pulsation both physically felt and audible, seems to be coming from the front passenger side. This issue really began to exacerbate about 2 months ago. I have tried everything and I am at my wits-end. Ill start off with what i have done to solve this issue. I replaced the brakes (not in-conjunction with this issue but rather as general PM) pads and rotors. I got a new inner tie-rod end (turns out i have some slight slop in my steering rack. Not even enough to make my steering wheel move but it is audible when ricking the wheel back and forth). I replaced my wheel bearing about 2 weeks ago because i had slop in the wheel. I thought I nailed down the issue… Nope. Then i had it in the get inspected at a honda dealer and at a local NTB store. The master tech at honda said it sounds like a tire issue but they came back and said i have two failing rear wheel bearing (which I already knew). The tech at ntb explained that the noise is probably the tires but the actual physical feeling is probably the bearing (to which i replaced to no avail). So then i go and get tires (used from my brothers car for about 8000 miles still like new and I got them for free) and although the noise is all but gone, there is still a slight physical vibration that I can both feel and see in my headlights (an HID kit). What else in god’s green earth could this be?!?! I am racking my brain thinking of anything. I replaced everything that rotates aside from the axle. The next thing i am going to look at is to make sure the brakes are still good. Then look at a possible new axle. I do have an intermediate shaft on the passenger side and i dont know if it has a bearing to hold the shaft in place farther out from the transmission. If so, I can look there as well. Also be advised, before switching tires and now after, my car seems to be pulling to the right more than it ever did. I will go in for an alignment however what is strange is that it seems to pull significantly harder when on the gas (not accelerating hard! As in NOT TORQUE STEER. But just maintain my speed seems to make it want to pull much harder than while coasting.) I dont know if this could have any bearing on my issue as well but i figured it was worth mentioning.
Sorry for the long post, I just like to give as much information as i can. Please help anyone.

Topic

[Lorrin Barth]

I was thinking axle from just reading the title. If it is axle most people drive them that way until they get noisy. The steering pull I think is unrelated to the pulsation.

[redguardian]

I honestly dont know what else it could be. To me it seems to be a rotational issue and I have replaced everything that rotates besides the actual wheel and axle.

[george gonzalez]

It can be a CV joint that is starting to bind up. Have you checked them for free rotation?

Or you could have a slightly bent wheel. It doesn’t take much of a hit against a curb or pothole to slightly bend a wheel.

Also make sure you’re not really horsing down on the lug nuts. Tighten them equally ad to spec.

[redguardian]

I always torque my lugs so im pretty sure its not that. I will start with an alignment. And go from there. The main problem now is that the car pulls significantly harder to the right when on the gas as opposed to coasting. I was think as far as a possible worn out engine torque mount causing the whole engine/ tranny to shift under load. But i dont see any bad mounts. I will call my local dealer and ask some questions tomorrow. Also worth mentioning, i am on a hfp (honda factory performance) suspension. It lowered the car by about an inch. I have had this suspension for about 1.5 to 2 years now. However, while washing my car about two weeks ago, I noticed my passenger side was about .5 of an inch higher than my drivers side. And i dont ever remember that being an issue. Any input on that?

[Author]

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