What could this possibly be?

I get to drive by a particular piece of road every day. Its essentially an S shaped curve (turn in one direction then the other) down a small hill. I can drive through it at around 40mph. While I'm driving through it though (and the wheels are turned) I can hear a slapping sound. Sort of like if something were stuck to the tires and it slaps as it hits the pavement.

I can hear this sound no matter which direction the tires are turned. I don't hear it when I'm turning at parking lot speeds or around corners (where the speed is probably 10mph). I don't hear it when I'm going straight down the road either.

What could it be? Cause for concern? Another thing the car does is starting at about 45mph it vibrates kind of bad. Like if I were driving on rough pavement.

Car has 120k miles and I recently replaced the idler arm and shocks/struts. I was told the ball joints could be bad.

Ideas? Would worn ball joints cause this? How serious is this?

I'm saving up for a complete front end rebuild but I don't have a job and I'm broke


Thanks.

 

I vote the ball joints but it could also be the U-joints that give you the vibrations. Ball joints a $25 each, u-joints are around $10, then there's the install.


Ed

 

Would that explain the slapping as well?

What are u-joints?

 

U-joints are in the driveshaft...if they're bad, they will cause a vibration due to the shaft being out of balance. The slapping could be from your tires rubbing since you say it happens when you turn...get the wife/GF/POA to sit in the car and turn the wheel while you watch the front tires and see if you can see anything.


Ed

 

if u have mudflaps on there,it could be them....i had a niose like that & it turned out to be the mudflaps trimmed them down & no more noise