caleb8316

Ok so my wife hit a deer, and every since there has been a bad vibration. Impact was on drivers front corner. The body shop is stumped and can't figure it out and so am i.

Symptoms..

vibration and sounds like driving over a rumble strip
at all speeds and constant
is not related to rpm
goes completly away when i turn the wheel to the right
gets louder when turning left
vsa light is on

diagnostics i have tried..

while driving, put in neutral and still present
reving engine while in neutral and moving doesnt change it either
it is strictly related to wheel/axle speed


I have replaced...

both axles
wheel bearings
and the intermediate shaft on pass. side
4 wheel allignment was done

ANY ideas?

WheelPowerRacin

My first response would be wheel bearing, as that is what it sounds like. When you turn the wheel to the right, you load the left side. You said you replaced the wheel bearings however. Are you sure they were pressed in correctly? Have you swapped the wheels from back to front? That will eliminate a possible tire or wheel issue.

eXploited

I am having the exact same issue on my STI..

I took it in and they said its due to bent wheels. (2 of them are bent, front left and back right)

euthorus

I had the same thing as well, also check for a broken/internally separated outer tie-rod ?

100 ~ PROOF

Pics of the deer?

Lord Humongous

All shitting aside, have you had the tires looked at or rebalanced?

I hit a deer in my old 5.0 and flat spotted the tires while breaking and it had a lot of the same symptoms you're having

ufctapout

Sprinkle the axles with gypsy tears.

Fabrik8

What's VSA? Is that vehicle stability assist or something like that?

I can't think of what could be damaged such that it changes when turning left to right and is there at all speeds. A bent wheel would cause problems all the time but would generally not change when turning. Tire damage or flatspotting would change sound with speed quite a bit usually.

So it's a vibration; does the frequency and/or amplitude change with speed...?

I'm more curious about what might be wrong with the VSA and how that is feeding into this. I kind of wonder if the VSA is activating and is actually causing the vibration. That would be fairly easy to figure out though based on the behavior, so you might want to think about that. It sounds like VSA modulates engine power and the brakes as well, so it would have to use wheelspeed inputs, etc., and it senses turning behavior so there is most likely an accelerometer module in the car somewhere.

euthorus

The VSA light will go on for anything to do with brakes including the brake lights, abs sensors, pads, low brake fluid, etc. It will be on until the problem is resolved and off as soon as it's fixed.

I have also had this triggered by a front end guard rail collision and ended up having to replace everything from the knuckle and out to get the VSA system to see the vehicle as aligned.

eXploited

When I have the steering wheel STRAIGHT or turned left at speeds greater than 40MPH there is Little vibration, but when I turn the wheel even slightly right I can feel a PULSING Vibration feel in the steering wheel and in seat. Like taking long right turn bends on the highway.. I can feel pulse pulse
Use almost like the wheel is out of balance.. But it doesn't do it when I turn left.. And it does it in neutral also..

my thoughts are Wheel bearing or drive shaft?

I dropped the car off at the dealership and they said I have 2 bent wheels, but the car did the exact same thing on a totally different set of wheels and tires. When I turn left it goes away.. but when I am slightly turning right and turning right at highway speeds its a "puuuullssee puuullsseee" Weird as fuck. They said that is the culprit to the vibrations.. BULLSHIT a bent wheel will fucking vibram regardless of which direction I turn the wheel.