campbmic

I have a 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer OZ I bought about a year and half ago with 103k miles. A few days after buying it I lost control and hit a curb at about 40 or 50 miles approximately. The car was angled when it hit the curb and hit the front right wheel for sure, I'm not for sure about the left. The control arm on the front right wheel was bent to heck and the tire pushed back a few inches.

I took it to a local shop and he replaced the control arm, that was it. I drove it and it had a noticeable rattle coming from the front right wheel. It seemed really noticeable whenever I would hit bumps etc. It sounded to me like the sway arm linkage was vibrating up and down or something but I checked it out and that wasnt it. Also, the alignment was out. It wasn't too bad so I drove it until about 120,000 miles.

At that time the front right axle failed and I had to replace it. I'm not for sure if its called the CV joint or something along those lines, but the bearings in the rubber boot area of the axle could be moved around by hand.

So I continued to drive the car after replacing the axle and the rattle continued from the front right wheel. I noticed a slapping/rattling beginning from the front left wheel, during a 4,000 mile trip to NYC and back. The car now has 135,000 miles and the slapping/rattling coming from the front left wheel is very loud and it sound s like my wheel is about to fall off. I can't really tell when it does it, at slow speeds it isnt very evident, but on the highway it really starts to rattle. Its most noticeable at high speeds at the highway and is pretty constant. I have the car jacked up and I'm trying to wiggle everything around to see where its coming from and I can't figure it out. The only thing that has ANY play on it at all is the axle and that just moved back and forth barely.

I did, however, notice a "clunking" noise when I spin the rotor with the wheel off the tire. It sounds like its coming from the bottom end of the engine
I tried to take a video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtudARI37Go

Do you guys think this is normal or is this the problem? I tried to take a video in the car as well getting on the highway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI7p53f6-qs

Thanks for any help guys!
-Michael

campbmic

Alright I just took it to four different mechanics today and here are the answers I got;

Most Common Answer: Wheel Bearings
2nd Most Common: Struts
3rd Most Common: Tie Rod Ends

These mechanics were kind of ghetto. I'm thinking towards wheel bearings but I really have no idea. How can I check my wheel bearings to see if they are bad?

Thanks guys!

campbmic

Alright, I just tried to check out the wheel bearing to see if thats it. To me it doesn't really seem like it. Here's a video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GXH0DEdIKQ

What would be the next thing for me to check? How do I check it?

Thanks!