A little backstory. I was driving late at night and didn't notice the road was merging, I reacted but I was late and hit a 6 inch curb at 35 mph or so. I drove off just fine. Nothing but some major curb rash on my right front rim. A week later I realize my tires are all shot. So I get four new tires, while they're getting balanced the tech mentions the right front rim isn't bent but it's warped so he had trouble balancing it. He does his best and puts it on. I get the car aligned the following morning and it seems great. While merging on the highway I realize when I turn the wheel to the left at 40+ speeds I feel a constant vibration. However while going straight I don't hear a thing regardless of speed. I was rear ended a month later and got the car re aligned but they did a poor job and now it was vibrating above 40 even while going straight. I go back to where I bought the tires and bought new rims and tires, get everything balanced and aligned. HOWEVER I see now that the problem was never the rim but rather a suspension issue from the curb hit 2 months ago. There's a lot less vibration now, I'm on 20 inch rims with 245/275 setup. But I still feel a slight vibration that comes and goes every second at 60 mph plus. Any idea what suspension component could have been damaged?

 

I know its a hard concept... get under the car and look. Gees

 

Haha I did, fixed the issue yesterday. It was the wheel bearing on the right front wheel. No way I could've seen that from under the car or anywhere else.

 

you could have checked it by spinning the wheel, and grabbing at 12 and 6 and see if there excessive movement

 

You are correct. You would not have diagnosed this problem by getting under the car and examining the suspension components.

Discovering a faulty wheel bearing can be difficult because the tests are subjective. Experience is the best when diagnosing this problem.

I'm glad to hear you have it solved. Vibration problems are Sooo annoying.

 

Glad you found the damaged wheel bearing, but you may not understand what the tech told you about the wheel. If either the front or backside of the wheel is warped, that wheel is DAMAGED and BENT. Depending on how bad the run-out is, the wheel itself may be junk and could eventually damage the tire and the wheel bearing on that side.

Hitting a curb is a serious shot to the Z and not something to be brushed off as a minor incident.