noise in front end

[whistlin_smithy]

Hi,

I've got a '99 [COLOR=green! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=green! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]toyota [/FONT][COLOR=green! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]corolla[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] with a thumping noise in the left front end. It can be felt under the driver's feet at all speeds. It increases and decreases with speed. Turning in any arc has no noticable effect on it. The noise is pronounced. It doesn't seem to be wearing the tires abnormally, at least not at this point. There is no steering defect. No shimmy or vibration.

I checked the tires and rotated the left front and left rear with the same results. I had the left front wheel bearing replaced (the mechanic that did it thought that was bad) same result. He also changed the left [COLOR=green! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=green! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]drive [/FONT][COLOR=green! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]shaft[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] and cv joints. No change in noise. The mechanic replaced both [COLOR=green! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=green! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]front [/FONT][COLOR=green! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]brakes[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR]-same result.

I changed both front struts myself-same result. While I had the [COLOR=green! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=green! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]struts[/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] off I checked the upper bearing mounts. They were fine. I also checked the right drive shafts and cv joints. They looked okay to me. The boots weren't torn or damaged at all and there was no abnormal side play. The first mechanic said the right front wheel bearing was fine. The mechanic at the local tire shop where I took the [COLOR=green! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=green! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]car[/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] to get the front end aligned said the right front wheel bearing is bad. He wants to replace that right front wheel bearing. I checked the tire and wheel for play while I had the tires off for strut replacement. The bearing seemed fine to me based on wiggling the tire for play. I've run out of ideas. I question whether the bearings are bad at all. The tires are relatively new. They check out okay visually. No separation that I can tell of. Anybody got any more brilliant ideas on what or where to look? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[tashirosgt]

It's hard to come up with anything you haven't already tried. Check the motor mounts. It's also worth checking the rear suspension since it is easy to mis-hear where car noises originate.

[toyomoho]

If the thump runs in cadence with the cars speed, it would appear to be a bearing, tire, axle. rotor or from nside the differential housing. Did you check the axle and CV joints? Tthe left axle may have an intermediate bearing on the axle shaft. Occasionally tires have a rock or object stuck in the tread. As suggested by Tashirosgt check the rear bearings.

[retiredat44]

the HTML code in your post made it unreadable.... I am pretty sure I have my forum settings correct for html, yet the orinal post has al the html code messing up the whole thing..