I hit a curb the other day and bent my front driver's side tie rod and gashed the wheel. I replaced the tie rod and got an alignment today, he said everything checked out okay and it was within specifications. When I was driving home I noticed when I turn the steering wheel to the right (only the right, not the left) I can hear a pulsating humming noise and a slight vibration from the front left side wheel area.

The tire is holding air and has no bubbles. What could be causing this? Maybe my wheel is out of balance?

Thanks,
Aaron

 

ahhh man that sucks. if i wad to guess i would say it is the wheel bearing but it's hard to tell w/o hearing it. BTW, how are those springs looking now that they have seated?

 

Springs are nice, exactly what I wanted!

Can a wheel bearing go bad after hitting a curb?

 

Noise when turning in a particular direction does typically point to a bearing. Can it go bad by hitting a curb? Anything is possible with impact damage. Very doubtful its a balance issue since you would hear that all the time and would get louder the faster you drive in a straight line.

 

Ok, I now believe it is the wear bearing after looking at some websites and talking to friends. Thanks for the replies!

What kind of job is changing the wheel bearing? I would like to do it myself if possible.

And all of a sudden now, when I start my car I have to give it gas to idle. It will shut off if I don't give it gas. Could it be that dirt is stuck in my exhaust?

 

i would try cleaning out your MAF sensor and throttle body, also i hear of some intake air control valve causing similar problems on these cars, but i am not too familiar with nissan parts so i can't recall if thats the name. could be a vacuum leak as well

 

Changed the wheel bearing/hub assembly and it fixed the problem! I did the "relearn" and that solved the idle issue.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

This helps out a lot!

I put my car in the ditch a week ago with damages to the front left side wheel and fender area. Gotta love Michigan winters, I'm definitly buying A/S tires and driving the ol' '93 Saturn for the really bad days.

So today I pick up my car from the body shop and I still notice the same vibrations and noise as you describe when turning to the right at highway speeds.

It looks like the body shop performed an alignment, but I'm going to take it back in and hopefully replacing the wheel bearings on the drivers side tire will solve it.

 

If you hear a noise from the left wheel only on right hard turns, and you don't hear it when going straight, that would be your wheel bearing. You might want to jack up the front, left wheel and push the wheel on opposite sides (9 and 3 o'clock). If it moves then your wheel bearing is shot. The hub and bearing are sold together at the Infiniti dealer for just shy of $200. It's a very easy replacement job...Good luck!

 

The body shop replaced the front drivers side wheel bearing and everything is smooth again!

This website rocks, thanks for the help.