Ok here we go . I have a 2000 grand am gt 152,000 miles. About a thousand miles ago it started to make a grumbling niose from the front end. Im thinking its the usual front wheel bearing right ? Wrong . I changed the left it got a bit quieter but still there. I changed the right a bit quieter but still pronounced and loud inside the car. I switched to the summer tires and threw a set of complete strut assemblies on as well. One spring was broken and the upper mounts clunked . So Im confident this is solved . Test drive revealed the grumbling is still there . You can feel it in the floor.
Im thinking it might be the half shafts or tranny output bearings. The boots are still in perfect shape with no leaks. There is about a 1/4 inch of play in the left inner cv joint where it comes out of the tranny but that might be normal.
Any GM techs dealt with this one? Does that year tranny have issues like this. Its the 4 speed automatic without the dipstick tube. I changed oil 2 years ago with synthetic and it still looks clean.
The sound is exactly like a wheel bearing but turning left and right really doesnt make the tone change much .
need to pick a gm tech's brain
Not a GM tech per se but I would possibly suspect the cv's with 152k on them... have you had the car since new? Is there a chance that they lost the boots at one time and ran in the elements because that happens quite a bit and people do not notice till damage has been done and I have to say that kind of life out of boots does not happen here in az.
I never knew it till I got into sand cars but they are a major maintenance item and you might be surprised to learn that they need at minimum once a year tear down inspection and repacking. Even if no sand gets in there and the boots stay intact you would think packing the boots and the joints full of grease would keep it well lubricated but the grease ends up flinging out away from where it needs to be and parts start eating away at themselves. I cant help but imagine that the same kind of thing goes on to some degree with fwd cars because the speeds can be somewhat higher with smaller diameter tires and the angles when they are turning has to be about the same.
I never knew it till I got into sand cars but they are a major maintenance item and you might be surprised to learn that they need at minimum once a year tear down inspection and repacking. Even if no sand gets in there and the boots stay intact you would think packing the boots and the joints full of grease would keep it well lubricated but the grease ends up flinging out away from where it needs to be and parts start eating away at themselves. I cant help but imagine that the same kind of thing goes on to some degree with fwd cars because the speeds can be somewhat higher with smaller diameter tires and the angles when they are turning has to be about the same.
QUOTE (cannondale27 @ Apr 10 2012, 02:40 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Could it be a bad brake rotor?
ok lets start by this does the sound change when costing? lets say be doing 40 45 and put the car in neutral. does it change from left to right when turning the wheel. lots of times people mistake rear end problems like bearings and brake problems as front end issues.