Vibration

[slotsmd]

I have 2002 Boxster S with just over 70K miles. A few weeks back I started to notice an increase in road noise, sounds like it's coming from behind driver's seat. Definitely directly proportional to speed, and not the engine. So I assume it is to do with the tire/wheel; tire is quite new (5000 miles or so), and no obvious problems with it. The sound has increased gradually in volume, and it's really more a vibration/humming than just noise. Could this be sign of failing wheel bearing? I'll have the car up on a lift tomorrow to change the oil, anything I should check while it's up there?

Thanks to any and all for suggestions...

Edited September 9, 2011 by slotsmd

[rogerjohnsen]

Should be able to jack the car up, grab the wheel on either end and check for play. Could also be the balance is off on the wheel itself. That's where I've seen vibration and noise in the past.

[manolo]

Check the control arms, (the main one with the ball joint as well as the trailing/upper arm). Other than obvious damage its hard to really inspect them but do your best. If they've never been done you will most likely see a lot of noises go away by swapping them out. For me, the trailing arms made a huge difference. I had to do the lower control arms as well as the ball joint boots were torn. Another thing, even though it may seem counter-intuitive I highly recommned swapping the front motor mount if its been awhile or never been done. If its never been done its virtually guaranteed it needs it. I have a 2000 S model as well. I bought it in 2009 with 28k miles and it needed it right away. I've already done two, last one was the 987 mount. This caused a lot of vibration noise, especially at freeway speeds as I usually find myself around 3000 rpm on the freeway and that RPM causes the most noise when the mount is bad.

Either way, if none of these things have been done, its definitely not a waste of money to do them with 70k miles and 9 years on the components. Every time I swapped a control arm the car felt just that much better.

BTW, I was chasing some noises and swapped one of my rear wheel bearings. Turned out to be a total waste, at 55k miles it felt exactly like the new one I put in. Not saying they dont need to be done, but it was a bunch of work for no result in my case. Turned out it was the flange on the aftermarket headers I installed touching the reinforcement brace under the car when I cornered it hard and the car flexed. Notched the flange now she's nice and quiet!

[slotsmd]

Well, no evident problems with the car up on the lift. Sometimes with noises/vibes I wonder if they've always been there and I'm just noticing them for the first time... I'm going to change the mount (been meaning to do that for a while based on many recommendations) and we'll see if that helps out at all.

Thanks all!