[toolboy62]

Well, I got a chance to change the axle that had the bad CV boot today... no change. Apparently the bad CV boot is unrelated to the vibration problem I've been having.

Basically - I have a vibration that starts around 70 MPH and gets bad enough by 80 MPH that I don't want to try going any faster. It actually feels like two vibrations almost in sync, as there's a beat frequency of less than 1 Hz which makes it even worse. All CV's are less than a year old, and wheels turn freely with no apparent drag or "crunchiness."

It feels like it may be coming from the rear of the car, although I couldn't say for sure that it's not a front wheel. Front wheel bearings were repacked less than a year ago with Redline grease; all old grease was washed out before repacking and all bearings looked OK.

The car was hit fairly hard in the LR while parked beside my house - it actually just came back from the body shop last friday after having a new quarter put on - and I can't say that the wheel wasn't bent, but I'll be pissed if that's the problem as they put a new tire on the car for me (because when I moved the car from the side of the house to the front, the tire hit the fender lip a couple times and chewed up the tread.) Could the bearing still be bad/loose even though it feels OK when checking by hand?

Is it possible that a hard hit could have damaged the transmission in some way? (doesn't seem possible, as the CV's allow the driveshaft to change length...) Is there even a failure mode of the tranny that could cause this? (I tried coasting with the clutch disengaged, and also with the trans in neutral, no change...)

Any ideas, before I make an appointment to take it in? This is starting to suck; I was so looking forward to having a functional car again. And I just fixed the sunroof, replaced the bushings on my sway bar (had a busted bracket) and bought the little duct I was missing for the alternator cooling setup! (was going to be nice to the car and fix a few things that'd been bothering me for a while...)

thanks,

nate