Strange thumping noise

[FDSpirit]

I have no idea wtf this is, and it's pissing me off. It only sounds when im driving, and it doesn't happen every time. The first thing I did was check the wheel bearings on the passenger side, which were good. The guy who sold the car provided the receipt and the job done to them. I posted a while back that my rear passenger tire has a slow leak, and when I filled the tire with air, the noise seemed to disappear.... any ideas what it could be? Someone said it could be my mudflaps . The strange thing about this is that my car still rides really smooth and I haven't noticed any changes in stopping distance and handling.

[theholycow]

If air in the tire helps, it's probably a defective tire that's not safe for driving.

That, or there's a pit bull stapled to your tire.

[FDSpirit]

Great. I forgot to edit and say the noise did come back after a day, even with air in it. I've got a full size spare tire in the trunk. Im trying to get it to a tire shop and have them double check it. I brought it there once and they said they didn't notice anything. Its been like this for a while, but I feel like an idiot for driving on it this long .

[theholycow]

Try rotating your tires and see if the noise follows the tire.

[LHOswald]

are you sure its from one of your rear tires? get it up on a jack and spin the tire slowly and see if you can hear anything. it might just be bumping up against something. try to spin it as fast as you can and see if you can replicate the sound. if not just bring it to a mechanic and have you drive the car with him riding shotgun so you can show it to him. alot of mechanics know generally whats wrong just by the noise its making.

[FDSpirit]

Thanks guys. I'll try that tonight. I was gonna let the tech ride shotgun. I had just thought about that about 5 minutes ago. I just need to make an appt. and see what happens if rotating the tires doesn't help.

[LHOswald]

yeah im the shit. true story.

[theholycow]

If you're going to jack it to spin it, jack it near the tire instead of by the frame. It probably won't rub the same thing while spinning if it's hanging down instead of the suspension being fully loaded.

Could be wheel bearing, which you may not be able to tell if you unload the tire (even if the suspension is still loaded).

[mtheis]

What about strut clunk?

[theholycow]

What about crunk slut?

[LHOswald]

Could be wheel bearing, which you may not be able to tell if you unload the tire (even if the suspension is still loaded).

The first thing I did was check the wheel bearings on the passenger side, which were good.

????

[theholycow]

????

I forgot that he mentioned that, though I've had wheel bearings that would pass every test but turned out to be the source of a noise...so checking the wheel bearing doesn't meant that the wheel bearing isn't the problem.

[FDSpirit]

Well. Took about 15 minutes and a ton of dirt later, but I spun both passenger side tires. Rear tire doesn't make any noise besides the pad and rotor touching a little. The front tire is making some noise out of the ordinary. It kinda sounds like the same noise, except slower, and not as loud....If I were to describe it, it sounds like a rubber thump. I've got an appointment setup, and I'll tell them to do the same thing with both tires. I've narrowed it down to the right side because I've driven with both windows down, and the noise is only on that side. So a bearing could still be a problem even with the freeplay test? Thanks for that input. I'm hoping its nothing that's gonna kill my wallet. Thanks for the replies. You guys are more help than those jerks on Honda-Tech.

[Rope-Pusher]

Have someone stand curb-side and do a slow drive-by to see if they can identify which wheel the noise seems to be coming from and if the noise is happening once per wheel revolution or not.

I just ran into some noise on my daughter's Cavalier that ended up being caused by new brake pads being larger than replaced brake pads and rubbing on un-burnished areas of the rotors. For some reason, this noise was not there when the wheel was lifted off the ground. I still don't understand why not, but it points out that diagnosing source of noises isn't always easy.

[LHOswald]

have someone ride with you at low speeds (like 15 or 20) next to you on a bike near all 4 tires to identify which tire its from. sounds stupid, but it might work.