Driving home from work tonight my rear passenger side wheel starting making a loud clunking noise as I was accelerating. I searched the forums for wheel bearings and read up on them but most people are saying that it's more of a buzzing noise. I jacked my car up and got under it, all my suspension looks fine, nothings out of place and my pads are not rubbing on the rotors, my lugs are tight, and my tire is not flat. Please give me some input, I'm desperate.

 

might be a shot strut, does it make the sound when you go over something (like a speed bump) or go into a dip hard?

 

not really, its just a constant clunking noise that isn't noticeable until I hit about 20 mph.

 

cv axle?

 

I'm not sure what it is but my friend mentioned that it sounds like it's my half axle. I really need help, driving a taurus to school sucks.

 

Mine sometimes makes a similar noise, but it's more like a very soft "clunk - clunk" and only when the car is in 5th gear and accelerating from 55 to 70mph. It happens around 3200-3300 rpm, and never in 1-4th gear. It's been driving me nuts trying to figure out what is causing it, b/c my control arms and outer tie rods are all new, new coilovers, and just this winter I completely cleaned, regreased, and put new boots on my outer cv joints (and they didn't look worn out, so they should be fine). I'd think if it was the engine/trans mounts, it would happen in every gear at that rpm range... I'm replacing the inner tierod end and boot on that side as soon as my parts come in, and I'll see if that fixes anything. Let me know if you find out what is causing your problem, 96A4Owner. Good Luck w/ yours.

 

Ya thanks, it's definitely happening all the time even when i'm out of gear.

 

bump, i'd like some more input guys, thanks!

 

So I found out that the noise starts coming back when I hit about 40mph. The clunkingdoesn't happen muchbut now there's more of a humming, with a clunk every now and then. I think it's the rear bearing but I'm not sure.

 

I took the car into my auto tech class today and found that there's a lot of play on that wheel and my teacher said that it's most likely the wheel bearing.