I was never one for suspension work and to be honest my googling has left me wondering what exactly is going on with my '10 SS. The short of it is that when I ma taking a right turn in a spirited fashion the driver's side front tire all of a sudden is now rolling up onto the sidewall where before it would just start understeering and never make it onto the sidewall so I know something must be out of whack. Yes, there is obvious scuffing on the sidewall.

Additionally I have noticed for a short while (5k miles at a rate of 110 miles daily)before this problem reared it's ugly head that when driving at lower speeds I would get a quiet, single click when accelerating. Just as the tire sidewall rolling materialized the click went from being intermittent and only while accelerating to pretty much any inertial change but only once per direction of drivetrain load/inertia change. When traveling at speeds higher than 40mph I am not sure the click is there because of road noise but its definitely there at 30mph. The loudness of the click is consistent accel or decel and has been the same since first noticed. I am not sure if this is related but it seems convenient. The clicking does not occur if I am out of gear or have the clutch depressed. It also seems to never occur in a turn from a dead stop or in a turn in general, only in a straight line or very slight steering input

Here is what I have done diagnostically and can tell you that might be pertinent:

I have reverified tire pressure
I have rotated the tires (personally)
With the tire on I gave each wheel the ball joint test; each is tight
I have no clunking what-so-ever on bumps of any severity or type.
Steering is otherwise tight, braking is wobble free no matter the origin speed or the speed I brake.
No steering play discernible when one or both tires were off the ground and the column locked. No movement that wasn't in perfect unison with the others
No bushings anywhere look worn in the slightest.
I cannot reproduce the clicking noise when spinning the wheel(s) in or out of gear with either or both sides lifted off of the ground with any combination of changing the rotation input.
Nothing is affected by having an equal weight or heavier passenger



All that said I am completely stock, have 91k miles. When turning hard left in a similar fashion the propensity to roll onto the sidewall is non-existent on the passenger front tire. My guess is the sway bar end link.

Any input is greatly appreciated and I will try to be quick to respond to specific questions.

 

Maybe the tire is just weak.... You check your motor mounts?

 

What kind of tire are you running? What are the size of the tires and which rims?

 

I'll check the motor mounts. As far as the tire I suspected that might be possible so I rotated them and the same result. To be more specific, theRPD is displaying a right side loading of 0.85-0.88g at the onset of riding on the sidewall. The left side and before it started on the driver's I could easily hit =or>.95g on a familiar corner and then I would just start to under steer, no rolling onto the sidewall. I am confident it is something mechanical.


To answer your question, Killswitch, I am running on my fourth set of tires since buying the car new and they are Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric All Seasons. The previously run tires were all taken to wear bars evenly and the were (in chronlogical order) Continental Contisport contact2, Goodyear Eagle F1, Conti Extremecontact DWS. The Eagle F1 assy's are by far the best tire all around tire i've had on the ca especially on the note of how they perform while being flogged. It is not the tire. Its only on the one side and as described. Lastly it's all through the same corners I have been driving for about 7 years now so I have ruled out it being some sort of effect of particular/peculiar corners. OEM wheels and size. The F1's sidewalls are pure beef, unlike the very whimpy DWS.

 

cabs?

 

"cabs"? Well I am not the most familiar when it comes suspension related anything but When I gave the (lower) control arm bushing (on the driver's side) its cursory look-over while rotating tires I didn't see anything patently or obviously wrong with them. Have any suggestions on how to test them beyond a visual inspection? I am glad to hear from you on this one.

 

Get a large screw drive or a pry her between the arm and the subframe and give it a pry you can usually see either a split bushing or even see the bushing separated either the inner metal or outer metal.

How's your camber? If your camber for some reason is less then on the other side that would cause some issues.

 

clicking is consistent with axle. had mine replaced for the same reason. clicking during engine loads on accel or decel.

soft sidewalls. no idea.

 

Thanks for the tips on inspecting the bushing, I will take a more detailed look in the morning. I didn't see anything obvious when I gave it a quick look over but I am guessing/hoping when I give it the more thorough look over I'll find something to get me on my way to sorting it out.

If that yields nothing I will have the alignment checked... not sure why I didn't think of doing so given the symptoms and the logic. It's probably my preference for steering clear of working on suspension components. I have had the alignment checked at the install and middle of life for each set of tires so far (and oddly enough, the goodyears are now at >12k miles and still have closer to 9/32 than 8/32(1/4) tread depth across the width on all four) and each time the shop says it hasn't changed since they first looked at it and when they first looked at it that it was pretty much as set at the factory and not worth meddling with. Thanks for that, too.

Very nice that this cropped up under powertrain warranty. I'll have the Sunset Chevrolet take a look when I go in for my free, lifetime (gotta plug them for such a nice service( Mobil 1 synthetic oil change.

Now that it is clicking on a more regular basis, I am not in any sort of danger of having the thing fail in the next thousand miles, am I? Did yours outright fail? I am only 800 miles from the oil change and would prefer to do it in one trip. It's not doing what I would expect a drive axle to do near death when turning right from a dead stop so, hopefully, I am not chancing having to use AAA.

 

check torque on wheel nuts and front axle nut. Rare for a 2010 to have cv joint issues.

 

I'll check the torque on the axle nut, the wheels were all redone by me and a very recently recalibrated torque wrench.

 

haha no i doubt you're in any danger. mine worked fine. just got annoyed by the small click noise everytime i accelerated or backed up. mechanic could barely hear it. i had to point it out to him. there was excess play in the imput shaft i believe. it's a known issue. i've seen a few get replaced for the same thing. im very particular about my car.

 

We got a winner! It was the camber. The shop said they were able to get it "perfect". Fortunately the tires have even depth across but I am wondering what would have caused it to go off... I ask because I am curious if it means there may be an impending failure since. This car is a highway, commuter queen and I haven't hit a significant object in the past couple of years so I don't think it was jarred out of spec from a single incident.

 

It happens, things where out, loose strength, get softer. As long as its better I wouldn't worry about it.

 

my guess is the lower control arm trailing joint let the control arm move in or out. jack it up let it down and it changes. if they slotted the strut mounting to the knuckle they fixed the camber only for it to go off again...based on your description. If its not the control arm bushing something got bent and they have fixed it . time will tell good luck in for results let us know