96 Ford Windstar van.
My front passenger side wheel is making a thumping noise and vibrates incredibly bad. It almost feels as if I have a flat tire. It seems to only do it after the car has been driven for awhile and warmed up. If I just take it for a ride around the block, or coming home from work at night, it rides smoothly. Took it to Midas and they said it was the outer tie rod ends. Charged me 300 dollars. FIXED NOTHING. Still does it badly when hot. After I get out of the car and go to the passenger side wheel, i can smell burning rubber. Tires are in good shape, they have also been inspected by a mechanic. I can't find anyone who knows whats going on with this. Mechanic also said my wheel bearings are fine. The breaks have been recently replaced, along with rotors. Steering wheel also shimmies, and it gets considerably worse when braking. The brake pedal stays smooth, but the sound and thumping gets a lot worse. Wheel is also very hot. When putting my hand above the tire in the wheel-well it feels like an oven. I don't think this is safe to drive. Any ideas? thanks.
I thought that it may be the transmission from what somebody else told me... So I put it in neutral while going down the road and it didn't do anything different, so that may be out of the question.
You have a possibility of a couple of things going on there. If I was there, Id be able to eliminate a few rather quickly....First, check the tire for any out of round condition by jacking up that corner and turning the wheel, sighting along the edge of the tread area to a fixed point so you can see any variations. Do the same with both sidewalls. If you have a broken internal belt, it can build up heat as it shifts while driving.
Next, check the brake rotors. If the brakes are staying applied slightly while driving, the rotor will begin to turn brownish or blue. If you find that is the case, check the caliper slides to make sure that the caliper can move freely.
If that seems OK, it is possible that the rubber hose going to the caliper has internally failed which can also keep the brake applied. If after removing the hose from the caliper, you cannot retract the caliper piston easily, then the caliper likely has rust around the piston bore and needs to be replaced.
A quick check for brake binding is to jack up the wheel after driving till it gets hot. With the transmission in neutral, try to turn the wheel. If there is excessive drag there your problem is one of the items I just mentioned.
Only other thing I can think of is some strange malfunction in abs system, but generally, you would have a failure light on the dash.
I agree with thundergod. More than likely its brakes they dont have to be rubbing much to get the wheel hot. Once the rotor gets hot it like all metals when heated it expands causing even more brake drag. It
Even though you said you and the mechanic checked the tires, they could be the issue. Have you balanced the tires? You say they are good, but are the tires older? Has your mechanic checked the wheel balance? You might find that a simple rotation will locate your issue, and new, balanced, tires could fix it.
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The brakes were replaced before I drove from indiana to arizona. They worked fine all the way here.
Did this happen before the brakes were replaced? If not take them back to who ever done them and have them do it right.
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