# When turning right thumping or rubbing sound



## searcherrr (Apr 6, 2007)

1999 Nissan Sentra GXE
It is a hard sound to describe, but sounds like its close to thumping, but not so. Its like a heavy rubbing/thumping sound and you can hear it best and loudest when you are turning to the right on a gradual right turn especially on deceleration lanes. If you go straight or turn left you can barely hear the sound. There are 3 Goodyear tires on the car and 1 Douglas XtraTrac from Wal-mart on the left side. The car also wobbles when going straight and the brakes are NOT being applied. The issue subsides when proper air pressure is in the tires, but the wobbling is still there. The guys at a local brand name repair shop say that all of the tires are "chopped" due to not having rotated and balanced them after too long, but my girlfriend has only had the new 3 Goodyear Viva put on in Sept 2005 and they didn't have a 4th so put on the Xtra Trac as the 4th. She went with the Goodyears because had problems with ALL 4 tires previously when using the Xtra Tracs and I recommended she bump up 1 quality level. I'm betting its that remaining Xtra Trac tire thats causing the issue, but its in the rear on the driver side and this sound seems like its coming from the front, plus the Wal-Mart out here says the Xtra Trac is fine and that other shop says that the tires are chopped (only with 15k on them) which causes the car to wobble like that. They inspected the brakes and hubs and say they seem fine. I have driven a lot of cars and I've driven much farther than I was supposed to without rotating and balancing the wheels and never experienced this type of effect and sound before. I swear its as if something is dragging or scraping more when turning to the right. If its the 1 shitty tire then why would it only do it when turning to the right? Any thoughts? Would have gotten 4 of the same tires at same time if it was possible at the moment, but they were out.

Update from something I recently wrote in another forum not on this site:
This problem still exists. I'm beginning to notice other things that may be playing into this. The steering seems to respond late. Thats the best way I can describe it. Its like when I turn quick I feel the car respond .... just ... late.... like something sliding sideways and/or clanking. The issue when turning right and hearing the sound still exists and the car still wobbles. It had 89K on it and most of those miles are from pothole SouthEast Louisiana so I guess all the suspension components could be suspect at this point. Turning right though I still hear this scraping sound... I know this has to have something to do with this wobbling stuff when going straight.

FYI - All tires are same size and inflating all to proper pressure does help alleviate the problem a small amount, but it does not go away. Gets worse as tires loose air over time.


----------



## LONDONDERRY (May 19, 2004)

Check to see if the boots on the CV joints are split open, if they are then the oil has flung out and you will need to replace the drive axle

Frank


----------

