Managed To Clip A Pedestrian Island

[forevered]

yesterday driving to work i managed to clip the edge of a pedestrian island in the middle of the road while swerving to miss a dog. burst my offside front tyre and scraped alloy a bit , got aa to put space saver wheel on so he could look for any other damage , he reckoned all was ok, so got a new pair of front tyres fitted at national tyres.very cheap with aa discount, £178 fot 2 michelin pilot sport 225/45/17s, i got 2 as tread was below 3 mil on both.anyway national tyres fitted them without mentioning anything about any other damage.driving around ive noticed it seems a little jittery at the front offside, and at speed theres a slight drone coming from the impact area.when bouning the front wing with my hand it dosnt appear to bounce more than it should, but when i look in the wheel arch i can see what looks like a bit of fluid spotted around and a damp patch round the top off the shock absorber. new shockers needed i think, what do you guys think ?

[smudge-1991]

Could be a shock or a wheel bearing ... Had similar issue from snapping a rim on a kerb at 60 when I aquaplaned on the a34 turned out to be the wheel bearing ....

[forevered]

been back to national tyres and seen for my self front off side shockers leaking mechanic reckons its nothing to do with hitting kerb its just normal wear, but says the slight droning noise which has started since hitting kerb is nothing to do with shocks. put it on ramp and spun wheels , no noise, checked for free play in all wheels , none. so none the wiser over droning noise which occurs at about 40 mph and 60 mph. getting new shocks fitted next week was advised 2 mots ago about slight leak in a shocker, dont know which one , didnt do anything about it. mot 3 months ago shocker wasnt even mentioned ! all mots done at toyota main dealer so no concistency my mot tester there was there !

[smudge-1991]

Did you spin wheels at 60 mph

....

[forevered]

no only doing 40

[smudge-1991]

I hacked my front end up so still weight on the arms so everything was still as it should spun the wheels at 60 in 6th had a handful of very experienced mechs around it and under and they all agreed it was the wheel bearing

[APS]

Regarding the shock absorber - mine lasted another 100k miles after Toyota notified me the first time of seeping. This was a front shock on the Corolla.

Sent from my iPhone

[forevered]

when you say your shock absorber lasted another 100k after being told it was leaking, what condition did it get to and how did it affect handling before you got it changed ? mines been spiting oil out into the wheel arch. what else do you guys think a expert can do to determine if it is the wheel bearing making the noise, other than spinning the wheels to listen for any noise (none) and try to wobble the wheels (none )

[smudge-1991]

I can't see why the shock would only do it between those speeds it would be a constant if it was the shock get them to drive it at the speeds it's worst noise is and any good mechanic can tell you your fault .... Even myself as a vehicle mechanic ( for 10 yrs now and still going ) and aircraft engineer asked other mechanics to make sure

[TomdeGuerre]

Maybe you're paying too much right now, listening out for noises etc and I've done it myself in the past. Toyotas are tough little motors and they can take a lot of punishment. You can burst a tyres very easily these days, some of them only have one or two plies and it doesn't mean that when you burst a tyres that you cause damage to bearings or suspension.

Have you listened to see if the noise gets worse when you're cornering? If the noise gets worse when you corner to the left then it's likely to be the offside (drivers side) bearing because that's where the weight is going onto during the turn. The opposite also applies. If that's inconclusive, let someone else drive your car, don't tell them you hit anything, just ask them if they hear or feel anything unusual. You've already replaced both front tyres and I expect the tyre centre checked out the wheel for any damage.

Don't worry too much about your noise, if it is a wheel bearing they usually just get worse gradually ie noisier and noisier giving you plenty of warning to get it changed.

[forevered]

havnt really noticed if noise gets worse when cornering will check, but need a corner where i can travel at about 40 mph when its most audible, also at 60 mph , not a good idea cornering at that speed !. think i will def get shockers changed whatever as i can see a good covering of oil at the top and spots in arch, and a covering on a section of metal behind the wheel ( no idea what parts called)registered yesterday on a website called, " my car needs a .com " where companies bid to repair your car. ive had one quote so far for the wheel bearing £110 sounds very cheap to me, also never heard of the garage in leeds.all work on my car has been at the same main dealer, where i bought it so far ( apart from tyres ) dont really fancy going there for a wheel bearing, reckon it would be seriously expensive ( recently had them replace my dodgy alternator at a cost of £312 reconditioned with 2 year warranty )

[forevered]

cheapest price ive found for a pair of new shock absorbers is £239 at national tyres. kwick fit wanted £273 including tracking. Halfords £406 and my local main dealer benfield toyota wanted £356 looks like national tyres tomorrow.

[forevered]

been round corners at 40 mph and the droning noise dosnt change at all, left or right hand bends. had the wheel off myself today and theres no movement whatsoever when i try and wobble the brake discs. having new shockers and tracking done tomorrow see what happens to noise then.. maybe my car dosnt like the new tyres, michelin pilot sport, before they were Hankook ventus

[TomdeGuerre]

Excellent choice of Michelin Sport tyres, that's what was fitted as original equipment to my Auris SR and I was delighted with them although they did get a bit noisy once they really wore down. I still got over 30,000 miles from new and terrific grip.

You're doing the right thing getting the shockers changed and the alignment checked. Frankly I doubt if you bent any control arms or the anti roll bar or anything like that but that should all be checked out in greater depth in the workshop.

A long shot: have you checked the transmission oil level?

[forevered]

wouldnt know where to look for the transmission oil !

[forevered]

what to do next ? new front tyres, new front shockers, driven around with space saver wheel on to see if droning noise was still there at 40 mph and above, without wheel that caught kerb , and it is. all wheels checked for any free play and theres none.what would you guys suggest to do about the droning noise, maybe as a tyre fitter suggested, it is the wheel bearing that took the impact, but is so slightly affected at the moment there isnt any free play YET..Dont want to risk having new wheel bearing fitted incase it isnt that , and ive wasted alot of money ( cheapest quote for wheel bearing ive had is £110, which sounds too cheap to me.also theres no way i would even attempt to change the bearing myself. any suggestions.nearly forgot , put car in neutral at 40 mph and noise was the same, so cant be anything to do with the transmission as someone suggested.

[smudge-1991]

I stand by wheel bearing all you could of done is took a chunck out of a couple of ball bearings in there and no play just noise ....

[smudge-1991]

Some wheel bearings retail at 80ish quid after a quick flit on the web