Is a bent axle possible? Never heard of this issue.

[hairball]

Bent axle on FWD car? Never heard of it until now...

Ever since I bought my car in August of 2009, I've noticed a slight tire wobble on acceleration. It's worse when I'm getting on the freeway, but I also seem to feel it when I'm just giving it gas, especially on the freeway. Let off the gas and it seems to go away. I don't really feel it around town. I figured it was a bad tire, but when I got new tires, I still felt it. Then when I even got new wheels, I still felt it. Weird.

So, ironically, when I went to get my emissions test done, they made me get out of the car and stand in front of it. They had it on one of those dynomometer-like tire roller things in the floor. When they accelerated the engine in gear, I looked down and noticed my left front tire had a slight wobble to it, like a bent rim! The next day, I had my tires rotated thinking if the problem went away, it was indeed a bent rim. In fact, I raised the front of the car with a jack and started it up and ran it in drive and could clearly see the slight wobble. Very slight, but enough to notice.

So I still have the problem. It's not really, really bad. Just enough to be a bit annoying at times.

So, is it possible to have a bent CV axle? I've never heard of this happening. I suppose it's possible, I've just never heard of it. I would think it would require hitting a pretty large pot hole really hard to bend an axle.

Does anyone know if it's possible to bend maybe just the outer part of the axle? I do plan on replacing both axles soon (I'm getting a nice chunk of money in a month or so), but until then I would love to know if it is indeed a bent axle. Has anyone else ever had this exact issue? Does anyone agree it would require quite a hard slam to the front tire to bend an axle?

[Mike Gerber]

Yes, it's possible. I have seen this one time before, about 10 years ago on a friend's Chrysler van. That axle had to be replaced and the problem was gone.

Did you compare it to the axle on the other side to variify the difference? If there is no wobble on the other side, that axle may be the problem. You'll know when you replace them. Just be sure to check everything else first.

Mike

[Zembonez]

A bent CV axle wouldn't cause the wheel to wobble. If it wobbles, the problem is very likely in the wheel/tire or possibly in the hub assembly (doubtful).

EDIT: It is near impossible to bend the outer CV stub axle unless it is involved in a really serious impact (which would destroy the suspension on that corner). It is a lot stronger than the wheel or hub.

[hairball]

Thanks for the input guys! No, the other side does NOT show any wobble at all. And the car was only in 1 minor accident... mine! Never been hit in the tire/axle area. I was thinking the same thing about it being almost impossible to bend the end part of the axle. Could be in the hub. After all, I do have noise issues on the same side when I apply the brakes. The wobble was there since I got it. With both the old tires and the new ones, then again with the new mags. Even after rotating it's still there. As mentioned, it's not REAL BAD, but it's bad enough to feel in the steering wheel.

I do plan to replace both axles and all the bearings within a month or two, so I'll post what I find if I don't figure out the problem before then.

Thanks again!