Well things just keep getting worse for my car. First the water pump, then the exhaust manifold....and now this. I was driving home from the store tonight, and I hit one of those dips in the road in an intersection while making a left turn. I heard a rather loud knocking noise distinctly coming from the right rear tire and felt a noticable wobbling. It felt like my tire was about to fall off.....it also did this 2 other times, but not as noticable when hitting small bumps. It's too dark out right now, but I will be going out tomorrow morning to look it over. Can anyone give me any ideas what to look for? It isn't lug nuts, I already checked those....what could it be?

 

Bearings maybe. Try jacking up that wheel and see if the whole wheel wobbles, has up or downward play, or moves in any kind of funny way. Then take of the tire and check for abnormalities. Let us know here what you find and maybe we can give you some better input.

 

Might just have a loose wheel. Could be bearings, tossed a wheel weight, bent rim or a number of things.

 

Ok, so I just jacked the car up, put the car in neutral, and spun the wheel. Not wobbling. Inspected the wheel, no visible dents or marks, and the tire is still in excellent shape. Other than being a bit resistant to turning, which I'm guessing is normal given the fact that the whole driveshaft turns too, nothing seems out of the ordinary. It only happens if I hit a speed bump, then it knocks and feels like it is wobbling. Is there anything else I should check before I put the tire back on?

 

Check the lower suspension arm & bolts for play, shock absorber & stabiliser bar too!

Is the exhaust hitting something ?

 

Play, how? Never done anything with suspension before so all this is new to me....Exhaust looks like it hasn't moved or anything....not touching anything other than the mounting points.

 

Nevermind, I think I just figured it out. After red3.8_96stang's comment, I double checked the exhaust while I was looking at how I was gonna try get to the exhaust manifold in a couple weeks. I touched it and the whole thing shook and wobbled. I tapped it harder and it started bumping into things and making a noise very similar to what I heard the other night. So I'm like 99% sure this is the problem, and I'm fairly sure this has to be the cause of the damaged manifold too. So next step is to find someone to secure the exhaust and replace the manifold. Would an exhaust shop do both?

 

Try pushing & pulling on the wheel hub (wheel removed) you should be able to see any drastic play.
If not for piece of mind go to an underbody shop & ask them to check for play in the rear suspension arms & stabiliser bar.

Just saw your above post.

Yeah, my son had some pretty horrific noises from his exhaust too ! they had to re-adjust some hangers & shift BOTH pipes to clear the frame. It's now all quiet like a new car!

 

Well I'm a bit relieved right now if it is in fact just the exhaust....I thought my wheel was gonna fall off lol. I justcalled an exhaust shop and they said to come in next week and get a free inspection/estimate so hopefullynext payday this will be all fixed. Thanks for the help guys.

 

hell, if you are gonna be paying someone for exhaust labor, and have a spare couple of hundred bucks, go ahead and get a dual exhaust put on while you are there, if you dont have one already. always look at the silver lining...chance to upgrade! i just had to do the same...my stock headlamps were too foggy to pass inspection at this snobby local raleigh inspection station (even though they work just fine and have great light output), so i used the opportunity to buy some smoked cobra style headlamps to replace em. (granted, i could have probably just wetsanded the stockers...but hey, man, UPGRADE!

good luck