So I took my car on a little rally tonight. Nothing new. The same spot Ive used before. Did a few slides and stuff and left. I was out there for maybe 2 minutes.

As I was on my way home I noticed that around 60mph I could feel a slight vibration in my steering wheel. The more I drove the more noticeable it became. I stopped off at a self wash car wash to get the dirt off the car, and as I was leaving I started feeling it earlier. Now it came on around 40-45mph. It was also ALOT more noticeable as the whole front of the car felt like it was shaking. Anything resembling hard acceleration set it off too.

So I stopped off in a parking lot to check and see if my the lugnuts on one of my front wheels had come loose. No dice. Tight as can be. I babied the car back to my apartment and as I was rolling through the parking lot I noticed a very faint metal to metal rubbing noise from the right front wheel. So faint I had to be in 2nd under 1500rpm to hear it. It was intermitent. Every few tenths of a second Id hear it.

I figured that my brake rotor was contacting something. When I parked I jacked the car up and took off the right front wheel to inspect. The caliper was definitely not hitting the inside of the wheel as there were no marks on it. With the car in neutral and the clutch in I could turn the rotor a bit, though it was difficult. Im not sure how freely a rotor should be able to spin by hand, but it defintely took a little bit of force to turn it. I checked the clearance between the brake pad and rotor and it was ok.

So I threw the wheel back on and took the car out. I couldnt hear the metal to metal noise that I heard in the parking lot. But when I pulled out onto the road, the vibration came back. It didnt seem as bad as earlier, but it was definitely still there. Came in a bit over 40mph and got worse as speed grew. Didnt matter what gear I was in.

Any thoughts? Ill be going to the nearest dealer in the morning to have it checked out, whether it be on a flatbed or limping my way there.

Doesnt look like Ill be rallying again soon.

 

hhmm, could be a bent control arm....

when you say rally. is this in the sand?

 

Hmmm, make sure every little bit of mud and sand and dirt is out of your wheels, I had the same problem when I went offroading. I think your wheels might be off balance.

 

Well the nearest Subaru dealer around here isnt open on Sundays so it looks like Ill be waiting till tomorrow.

To answer your questions. Yes it was on sand/dirt. Pretty much the same surface Ive seen in the rally meet vids. It was a bit wet out, though. The surface is pretty much flat too.

I cleaned the wheels pretty thoroughly, but theres a chance that some dirt could still be hiding in there. Im also gonna check to see that one of my wheel weights didnt get knocked off.

Is there any way this could be an alignment problem? Or maybe a wheel bearing?

 

yes it could be.....

get it checked out fast in my opinion

 

I lucked out bigtime. There was still dirt hiding behind the spokes of 3 of my wheels. Gave them a thorough spraying and the problem is gone. She's as steady as the day I got her now. Ill be sure to clean my wheels very well if I play in the dirt again.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

Told ya so.

Are you going to the CFSEC Rally meet on the 16th?

 

Gonna try. I should be in town that weekend unless something comes up.

 

Come rally-x with us!

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