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[Pajama Knight]

My Honda Civic will be old enough to vote this year. It's been across the country several times and most of the engine has been replaced through its lifetime. It's a trooper 99% of the time, but because of its age anything new that costs more to replace than the oil is going to be my cue for a new car. Long story short I can afford a new (Or used) car, but only barely and not without inventing increasingly creative Ramen recipes for the next few years. I need a car to get to work, and I want to squeeze every bit of life out of my old car before moving on to such a large investment.

I just want to make sure my car isn't a rolling death trap until then.

Recently my car started making bumping noises when going somewhere between 25 - 50 MPH. Any faster or slower and it stops completely, and it's most consistent around 30 - 40 MPH (It goes on and off otherwise). It was very subtle at first, and I thought it was just the road because I could feel it in the accelerator. A couple months after I first noticed it it's gotten much worse. It's audible now and I can feel the accelerator vibrate consistently, but only when going those speeds. It's as if I'm constantly hitting a hundred little divots in a row. I've done a rough check of my tires and couldn't find anything wrong on the outside, and I'm pretty sure if that were the case it wouldn't be making more noise as time wore on. I've (Mostly) confirmed that it's not the engine - I turned my car off and coasted down a hill in neutral, and the bumping continued. It's got to be something with or between the tires.

Google has been incredibly unhelpful giving up its secrets so I'm getting a little bit desperate. I don't want to bring it in to a mechanic and end up dropping more than I can afford on a car that's not worth investing in unless it's absolutely critical or if it's just a minor fix. I don't expect anyone in these boards to be a car expert and zero in on my problem, but if I can get pointed in the right direction that would be magnificent. I'm hopeless when it comes to cars.

Thanks in advance.

[Heron TSG]

Does it happen across that whole range of speeds, or at a particular speed? It's possible your car is experiencing a similar sort of resonance as you'd get while driving over a hundred divots. If something's wobbling, it'll wobble even more at a specific speed. That'll make some noise.

[gimlet]

If you can hear car noises, you're not playin' the radio loud enough...

Seriously, take it to a mechanic and FIND OUT if it's critical and how much it will cost.  Car stuff rarely goes away on its own or gets cheaper to fix when you ignore it...

[DJ]

Check the bearings on your wheels, they're a common cause for this. Luckily they're fairly cheap (dunno how much mechanics charge for the work where you live, though), but you definitely shouldn't put off replacing them if they're bad because it can lead to more serious problems, up to having your wheel pop off the car while you're driving.

[Thief^]

Bearing or CV joint, most likely.

[Strife26]

As resident terrible luck with cars person, sounds like maybe a bearing. If you know a reasonably honesty mechanic, bring it there and see what they say first looking at it. Establish super clear limitations on what all they're looking for so they don't try to bill you for taking apart an engine or somesuch.


Then take the thing somewhere else too.

[Eldin00]

bearing, tie rods, or CV joint in all likelyhood.

Some possible diagnostic steps:

Jack up the front of the car enough to get the front wheels off the ground. Support the car with something more stable than the jack, if you're going to have any part of your body you care about under the car.

Grab one of the tires. If you can move it up/down or towards/away from you a little bit without moving the rest of the stuff it's attached to, that's a sign that your wheel bearings on that wheel might need replaced. If you can turn the tire (like when you're steering, not like when the tire rotates to move the car forward/backward) a little bit left or right before you get resistance, you probably need to replace the tie rod end on that side.

Put the car in neutral and try rotating the tire. Does it rotate smoothly? If not, try to figure out if the roughness in the rotation is coming from the bearing (center of the wheel), the CV joint (a joint on the axle which SHOULD be encased in a rubber sleeve), or somewhere else.

Repeat all the above for the wheel on the other side. You might also want to check the bearings on the rear, but the tie rod and CV joint parts of the advice should only apply to the front wheels.

[nenjin]

Everyone has mentioned what I'd have guessed. God I hate the whole tire assembly. It wears out fast, costs a bit in several installments as each part goes shitty. I've also got a nearly-legal Honda and it's the same deal.

[acetech09]

CV axle test: Look under the car - on both sides are the driveshafts from the transmission in the center to the wheel hubs. The axles have rubber accordion boots on both ends. Check those boots - are any broken and flinging black grease everywhere? If so, you just need a CV axle, which an indy shop shouldn't charge too much for.

[Strife26]

Sooo. . .  Anyone wanna buy a Cadillac cts? 70000 miles and cheap. Totally nothing wrong with the horrible waste of steel.

[Zrk2]

Sooo. . .  Anyone wanna buy a Cadillac cts? 70000 miles and cheap. Totally nothing wrong with the horrible waste of steel.

You bought a Caddy? What's wrong with it?

[acetech09]

Sooo. . .  Anyone wanna buy a Cadillac cts? 70000 miles and cheap. Totally nothing wrong with the horrible waste of steel.

You bought a Caddy? What's wrong with it?

GM and their complete lack of any incentive to make a good product.

That said, the CTSes aren't bad bad, my Dad has one. One of the last good GM drivetrains, build quality is quite questionable though. Tricky maintenance but I was quite impressed by the one I worked on.

Stupid, stupid rear diff design though, absolutely zero maintenance allowances back there.

[acetech09]

Also, my take on actually answering the OP's question:

Time to get a new car.

[acetech09]

Oh, if anyone else has any automotive-related mechanical/buying-selling questions, feel free to shoot. I'm a certified mechanic, hobbyist car flipper, and both drive/pit for a local race team.

[Zrk2]

If you insist... 2003 Silverado, 5.3, fan belts squeaks when cold, worthy of concern?