I cannot figure out what the deal is with this car. The front end just does whatever it wants to do. It will do straight and solid for a little bit then pull hard to the left, or sometimes right. The turning at high speeds feels very unstable and the short, quick turns from left to right and right to left make the car feel like its going to flip and crash. I also just started getting a very noticeable vibration in the front wheels when braking at high speeds. Steering wheel wobble and there is a judder in the pedal. The rotors are 6 months old with good pads (I previously had just the high speed brake judder and replaced the rotors which temporarily solved it). The car feels dangerous to drive. Ive checked alignment, balancing, loose/broken parts, etc. Would a wheel bearing cause this? When I turn my turn my car slowly to the right, I do hear a mild rotational tire noise. I have brand new tires on the rear and the front tires have 50% tread. They have all been balanced with same issue.

Any thoughts?

 

Couple things I'm thinking -

The wandering may be the tires you have (what kind are they?) It's called "tracking". The car will want to wander on the highway for no apparent reason sometimes. I had some cheap Nankangs on my BMW for a bit and was doing that. Changed the tires and it went away.

The braking vibration are the front rotor(s) again. You can have them turned (resurfaced) to get them straight again. These rotor have a lot of meat on them. But the question is why they got so hot to warp? Heavy breaking, racing, downhill grades? or a caliper that is not releasing all the way and heating the rotors?

You can eliminate it being a loose bearing by lifting the front and seeing if there is movement when you have one hand on top of tire and one on bottom and rock it back and forth. There should be NO movement! If there is a bearing is bad. Over time a bad bearing will develop noise especially when you do a winding curve to the left or the right while car is in motion. If it make a whirling noise (wha-wha-wha-wha) when you curve left, the right bearing is bad...and opposite applies for other.

Let us know what you figure out and good luck

 

Im debating whether on dropping $400+ on two new front tires to see if that does anything. I am running Continental Extreme Contact DWS tires. I think there may be a caliper issue. If its the rotors again, they should last more than 6 months after any type of braking. I dont brake hard or race. Ive gone through 2 sets of rotors in a year and a half. I do hear the (wha-wha-wha-wha) noise when I curve to the right.

something is definitely wrong, I just dont know what...

 

For testing purposes, I might get a pair of fair used tires ($45 each or so) and test it out.

Check the tires for cupping first ("feathering"). Usually on the inside of tread pattern for these cars. You can see it, or rub your hand down the tread. Tread starts to be uneven (high and low spots). This can cause road noise too and more when turning. A set of tires will for sure narrow down if it is a bearing or not if the noise goes away. A bearing is about $125 min and you can do it yourself with little skill and some took....as long as it's not rusty!

The pulsating brakes are the rotors for sure. you may have a caliper grabbing at one of the front rotors heating them up and prematurely warping them. I have also heard that over torqueing the tires (shops with pneumatic air guns) can F- them up too. They should be hand toqued/tightened Have them turned for about $20 each if you can get them off yourself.

report back

 

Thinking about it more, lift the front and check for up and own wobble in wheel . If wheel bearing is really bad it will cause the wandering too

 

There was a bulletin for the brake vibrations on these cars which gave you an updated backing plate that helped keep the rotor cooler by dissipating more heat. My guess is that you never had this performed which is why you are killing rotors every 6 months.

 

I think you probably have a couple of problems ongoing. As far as the brake judder is concerned, I would be very inclined to believe that the rotors are not warped but just have pad deposits. I installed Centric premium blanks and Hawk Ceramic pads and had the TSB backing plates -- brake judder resurfaced after just a few thousand miles and getting worse and worse. Instead of turn the nearly new rotors, I decided to swap pads to Stop Tech street pads which have better high temp fade resistence and less rotor friendly. Bedded them in aggressively and now they are completely judder free and have been for 8k miles or so. So impressed was I that I switched out the ceramic pads in the rear and installed Stop Techs too. I swear--no judder and some of the high speed vibrations are gone--passenger seat no longer vibrates like crazy.

Also, the suspension is not overly complex. I would jack up the front on jack stands and the check for play in the wheels rocking them by holding at 12 and 6 o-clock. Turn the wheel and listen for abnormal noise. check out your suspension bushing and joints, sway bar endlinks, etc. Do the same for the rear. With the car on the ground, check your strut/shock damping. Basically check out every component of the suspension that you can.

 

had the car on a lift and did not see anything abnormal. To be safe with the brakes, I am replacing the front calipers and rotors. I now have a creaking/squeaking noise when turning the steering wheel or turning on inclines. That seemed to start today.

 

Can you please grab a sound clip or short video?

 

might be tough with just my phone and the road noise.

 

UPDATE!

I ended up replacing the front calipers and front rotors. I believe one of the pistons in the front left caliper was faulty and not engaging properly. The rotor was warn unevenly with a good size nick/cut going vertically with pad skipping marks after it. I also did a full rotate and balance on the wheels/tires.
While I was at it, I removed and refilled the power steering fluid reservoir, differential fluid change and transfer case fluid change.

Result, things are much better and back to normal. I still hear a thud thud thud noise from the wheels lightly when turning but I dont think its wheel bearing related. I believe its just the tread of the tires (Continental XtremeContact DWS). I was ready to sell the car, and now I may just hold on a little bit longer.