loud thumping noise

My mother has a 93 SL2 with 107000 miles on it and when it is driving there
is a very loud thumping noise coming from the right front of the car and the
higher the speeds the louder and more frequent it becomes. Is this a CV
Joint or a wheel bearing? If either, what difficulty would both of these be
to fix. Thanks alot in advance.

 

Fixing the CV joint and wheel bearing is pretty simple - take the car to
your dealer.

As for your mother, you're on your own on that one...

 

Mike,
I had a wheel bearing go at 120K. I just replaced both sides as the
other side was so-so. But the sound that it made was not a thumping
sound, but it was more like a loud "purr" that got louder. For the
most part, I fixed them myself. You have to remove the axle nut,
rotor, caliper and spindle. The bearing and seals cost me about
$50/side in parts and $25 each to install in the spindles that in
brought in. While I had it a part, I saw I needed a ball joint which
required a "lower arm" replacement. As a matter of fact if a CV
boot was marginal, now's the time.

In your case, if it is a really bad CV joint, the CV boot most likely
will be torn. CV's usually just click around turns; a thumping should be
something else.

Good Luck,
chuck (94 SL1)

ps: as the 2 large bolts were removed that attach the strut to the spindle,
an alignment is needed. And considering a suspension part was replaced,
an alignment was definitely in order.

 

Tire out of balance. Tire balancing is cheap, easy, and needs to be done
routinely anyway.

Any out-of-balance tire will make a thumping noise but if the noise is
exessive it could also indicate that the McPherson struts may be worn. In
that case the car would exhibit handling and ride problems. You'd still need
to get the tires balanced though.

Another possibility, an out-of-round tire. In that case, tire replacement is
the only fix.

CV joints typically make clicking noises in turns.

Wheel bearings make a growling, grinding noise that sounds a little like
driving over a coarse gravel road.