a few weeks ago i did a 40 yard skid from 80 mph and hit a 4 inch high curb straight on. it wore my tires down to the steel belt in the places that were in contact with the road. as you can imagine, before i replaced those tires, i had to deal with the continuous bumping of the bare spots of the tires making contact with the road. i had the tires replaced and i thought everything was going to be fine but the bumping noise still occurs with the front right wheel. the alignment isn't off, and the steering is only slightly shaky. it just feels sort of unstable having that constant bump with every rotation of the wheel. does anyone know what it could possibly be?...bent wheel?...broken axle boot?...thanks a lot.

 

You SURE that the tire itself isn't out of balance? Or maybe it was a "rare" defective tire. It's been known to happen.

 

i guess it could still be the tire. i got the new pair of tires for the front from a friend with a 4th gen who recently purchased some new rims. his back tires still had most of their tread so those are on my front. he swears that the tire never did that when it was on his car. any ideas on how to find out if its unbalanced? i don't want to have to go see a mechanic about this thing, i don't have the time or the money to be without the car. thanks a lot, i appreciate the response.

 

It shouldn't be that big of a deal to get one tire re-balanced. Try a tire store, and set an appointment so you can wait for it. I had one of mine re-balanced and it cost about $8.

 

thanks, i'll have that done and see how it goes from there.

 

apparently, the bumping sound was being caused by the tire beginning to separate from the rim. for 8 bucks, they moved it to the back. pretty soon, though, i will have to replace it. thanks for the input.