So I have this rattling in the front end. It gets really bad when I hit about 60mph and goes away once I hit 70-75ish. So from 0-50 it's noticable 50-60 it's loud but if I turn the steering wheel left or right just a lil bit it goes awaythe tires on the front arnt the greatest and need replaced but someone told me to hold off until I figure out the problem or else it could ruin the new tires. I have replaced the wheel hub assembly on driver and passenger side along with breaks and rotors. Thinking maybe inner and outer tie rods? Sway bar bushing or struts? Some older guy said it was from me having a broken belt in the tires. Which very possibly might be true but I'm going back to I hate to put new rubber on it if it's just gonna mess up the new tires. Plus I'm a retired army vet. Partially disabled from the war and on a fixed income now unfortunately so I can't just go all out on this all at once. Any tips or advise is welcome and like I said first time posting here so take it easy on me this time lol I'm not to knowledgeable on cars I just know enough to get me in trouble but I wanna learn

 

Depends on the sound of the rattle. Rattles are the hardest to diagnose with words or video.

If tie rods rattle, they'll usually be so far gone that you'll feel it in the steering.

Sway bar end links typically don't rattle, they're more of a clunk when you hit bumps. Same kind of goes for the sway bar bushings - unless they're obliterated.

Bad shocks are very possible, but you'd typically see weird/bad wear patterns in your tires already, depending on how bad they are (sometimes these manifest are weird diagonal wear pattern across the tread).

Broken belt in the tires? The "belts" are just steel wire that are meshed diagonally under the tread. If you had broken belts, you'd have bumps forming in the tread, and would then have a pronounced "unbalanced" feeling... a constant bump coming from one specific wheel.



An easy way to eliminate the tires from the equation is to have them rotated. Fronts to the back, back to the fronts... if the problem goes away or moves to a different part of the car, then the wheels/tires are typically the problem.

Does the steering wheel still feel smooth when driving, or does it vibrate/jitter?

 

Oh ya once I get up to 50-60 it's vibrates like a mf until I hit 70 -75 ish then it goes away
Also why is it if I turn the wheel slightly to the left or right the ticking noise goes away. If u want u can add me on fb and facetime me and I could let u listen to what it's doing

 

Sounds are next to impossible to diagnose over video. I've tried. Phones don't pick up everything and you can't get a sense of direction with them.

There are a handful of things that should be checked. Tires, tie rods, ball joints, control arm bushings, and shocks. The bushings won't cause this problem, but if the suspension has been neglected, chances are they're old and worn out.

 

So if I order new shock strut assemblies and get new tie rod ends enter and outer and should I replace the control arm too? Then after all that's done get it aligned and see if that fix the problem then. Correct? I was looking at the Monroe's my car calls for the fe1 but could I upgrade to the fe3s or should I stick with the Fe one for suspension

 

There are upgrades that you can do (FE1 to FE3/FE5), but I'm not as familiar with what all is involved with those upgrades, since I started with an SS. The information is definitely on this site though.

I'd probably skip the Monroes and go with something OE. CrateEngineDepot is a great vendor for these cars and has been around since the early days.

Cobalt Store


https://www.google.com/search?q=FE1+...hrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/susp...m4-jl9-137064/

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/susp...e1-fe5-319672/

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/susp...vs-fe5-246363/

 

Man you are awesome thank you so much for helping me out I'm definitely gonna look into this now. I won't be able to do all this at once but if u had to choose between inner and outer tie rods or shock strut assembly being the problem which would be the most important? Tie rods?

 

If I'm blindly picking between them, probably outer tie rods, then struts, then inner tie rods (if necessary, these usually last much longer).

 

Well I'm gonna do just that then lol. Wish me luck. I'm actually gonna go to a local junk yard that has 5 cobalts just sitting there and just see what is still good and try to save some money that way .