07 chev Cobalt front end issues

My son has purchased this car new 07 Cobalt 2 dr with a 2.2 engine, he
has 69k miles on it 90 percent highway miles, back in the fall he was
telling me there was a rumble type noise in the front, I took the car
for a ride and it seemed to be a out of round tire, they were bad, I had
the front end aligned and installed 2 snow used snow tires for the
winter, they were balanced, it was a little better, now he notices the
passenger front tire is cupping bad on the inside, not sure if alignment
or balance relates to this issue, but he wants me to take the car
somewhere else for a alignment, he thinks the guy who did the alignment
in October did not do a good job, I can't say, he says the car at times
wanders around on the highway, what can I look for, I have my own wheel
balancer, should I check the balance. I have new tires on the rear, I
was thinking of putting them on the front and take it for a spin and see
if that helps, any suggestions

thanks
Chet

On Sat, 16 Jan 2010 10:33:48 -0500, Chet > wrote:

>My son has purchased this car new 07 Cobalt 2 dr with a 2.2 engine, he
>has 69k miles on it 90 percent highway miles, back in the fall he was
>telling me there was a rumble type noise in the front, I took the car
>for a ride and it seemed to be a out of round tire, they were bad, I had
>the front end aligned and installed 2 snow used snow tires for the
>winter, they were balanced, it was a little better, now he notices the
>passenger front tire is cupping bad on the inside, not sure if alignment
>or balance relates to this issue, but he wants me to take the car
>somewhere else for a alignment, he thinks the guy who did the alignment
>in October did not do a good job, I can't say, he says the car at times
>wanders around on the highway, what can I look for, I have my own wheel
>balancer, should I check the balance. I have new tires on the rear, I
>was thinking of putting them on the front and take it for a spin and see
>if that helps, any suggestions
>
>thanks
>Chet


At 69K he may have some worn out front end parts that are causing
problems, especially if the wandering around on the highway is
something it didn't do when it was new. I would take it to a good
independent shop that specializes in front end work, assuming you can
find one.

Cupping is usually shock absorbers, no?

phaeton > wrote in news:4a302e56-ff1d-4749-8e30-
:

> Cupping is usually shock absorbers, no?
>


Can't speak to the OP's Cobalt specifically, but for most cars, cupping is
more often the fault of badly-mounted tires. Even with barely functional
shocks, properly mounted tires will wear quite normally.

Most "tire" problems are due to inept mounting, but are blamed on shifted
belts, out-of-round tires, road-force variance, bad shocks, etc.

VERY few tire shops really know how to mount tires properly.

--
Tegger

On Jan 16, 4:56*pm, Tegger > wrote:
> phaeton > wrote in news:4a302e56-ff1d-4749-8e30-
> :
>
> > Cupping is usually shock absorbers, no?
>
> Can't speak to the OP's Cobalt specifically, but for most cars, cupping is
> more often the fault of badly-mounted tires. Even with barely functional
> shocks, properly mounted tires will wear quite normally.
>
> Most "tire" problems are due to inept mounting, but are blamed on shifted
> belts, out-of-round tires, road-force variance, bad shocks, etc.
>
> VERY few tire shops really know how to mount tires properly.
>
> --
> Tegger


I see. My tire-mounting horror story is all about bent wheels at
Sam's Club.

"Ashton Crusher" > wrote in message
>
>
> At 69K he may have some worn out front end parts that are causing
> problems, especially if the wandering around on the highway is
> something it didn't do when it was new. I would take it to a good
> independent shop that specializes in front end work, assuming you can
> find one.

I agree, Ashton. There are more than one causes for cupping tires. I got
it once on a van that was aligned and had no worn suspension parts.

I should have had the tires rotated earlier and didnt.

Bad shocks or struts can be the problem... but there are others.

You dont need to fart around with more balancing and alignment. Go to
someone who knows wtf is going on, and have him diagnose the problem.

The OP should stop looking for a quick and simple fix and take the car to
an expert.. NO, I didnt say dealership.. I said expert.

On 1/16/2010 8:59 PM, hls wrote:
>
> "Ashton Crusher" > wrote in message
>>
>>
>> At 69K he may have some worn out front end parts that are causing
>> problems, especially if the wandering around on the highway is
>> something it didn't do when it was new. I would take it to a good
>> independent shop that specializes in front end work, assuming you can
>> find one.
>
> I agree, Ashton. There are more than one causes for cupping tires. I got
> it once on a van that was aligned and had no worn suspension parts.
> I should have had the tires rotated earlier and didnt.
> Bad shocks or struts can be the problem... but there are others.
>
> You dont need to fart around with more balancing and alignment. Go to
> someone who knows wtf is going on, and have him diagnose the problem.
>
> The OP should stop looking for a quick and simple fix and take the car
> to an expert.. NO, I didnt say dealership.. I said expert.
>
>

when I had my sons car inspected last September, the guy at the
garage showed me oil seepage coming from the top of the shock strut,
both sides, I called a chevy service dept and explained the leak, he
said this is normal, I told the guy who inspected my son's car and he
said he never heard of a strut seeping oil that was normal. called
another chevy dealer and made an appointment last September they checked
it out an said it is withing spec and no need to replace the struts. so
much for the cost of the BS extended warranty

Chet

phaeton > wrote in
:

> On Jan 16, 4:56*pm, Tegger > wrote:
>> phaeton > wrote in
>> news:4a302e56-ff1d-4749-8e30-
>> :
>>
>> > Cupping is usually shock absorbers, no?
>>
>> Can't speak to the OP's Cobalt specifically, but for most cars,
>> cupping i
> s
>> more often the fault of badly-mounted tires. Even with barely
>> functional shocks, properly mounted tires will wear quite normally.
>>
>> Most "tire" problems are due to inept mounting, but are blamed on
>> shifted belts, out-of-round tires, road-force variance, bad shocks,
>> etc.
>>
>> VERY few tire shops really know how to mount tires properly.
>>
>> --
>> Tegger
>
>
> I see. My tire-mounting horror story is all about bent wheels at
> Sam's Club.
>


Bet they weren't bent at all. "Bent rim" is a favorite blame for tire
monkeys who don't know how to true tires properly.

--
Tegger

Tegger wrote:
> phaeton > wrote in
> :
>
>> On Jan 16, 4:56 pm, Tegger > wrote:
>>> phaeton > wrote in
>>> news:4a302e56-ff1d-4749-8e30-
>>> :
>>>
>>>> Cupping is usually shock absorbers, no?
>>> Can't speak to the OP's Cobalt specifically, but for most cars,
>>> cupping i
>> s
>>> more often the fault of badly-mounted tires. Even with barely
>>> functional shocks, properly mounted tires will wear quite normally.
>>>
>>> Most "tire" problems are due to inept mounting, but are blamed on
>>> shifted belts, out-of-round tires, road-force variance, bad shocks,
>>> etc.
>>>
>>> VERY few tire shops really know how to mount tires properly.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Tegger
>>
>> I see. My tire-mounting horror story is all about bent wheels at
>> Sam's Club.
>>
>
>
> Bet they weren't bent at all. "Bent rim" is a favorite blame for tire
> monkeys who don't know how to true tires properly.
>

I have in fact had a bent rim on a 944, and I put up with a nasty
vibration at highway speed for several years until I bought some "known
good" wheels and tires and started swapping them around myself. I lost
track of how many shops sent me down the road and told me that there was
nothing wrong with my car. I knew better because the car drove fine
with the winter tire/wheel set installed.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

On Jan 17, 8:35*am, Tegger > wrote:
> phaeton > wrote :
>
>
>
> > On Jan 16, 4:56*pm, Tegger > wrote:
> >> phaeton > wrote in
> >> news:4a302e56-ff1d-4749-8e30-
> >> :
>
> >> > Cupping is usually shock absorbers, no?
>
> >> Can't speak to the OP's Cobalt specifically, but for most cars,
> >> cupping i
> > s
> >> more often the fault of badly-mounted tires. Even with barely
> >> functional shocks, properly mounted tires will wear quite normally.
>
> >> Most "tire" problems are due to inept mounting, but are blamed on
> >> shifted belts, out-of-round tires, road-force variance, bad shocks,
> >> etc.
>
> >> VERY few tire shops really know how to mount tires properly.
>
> >> --
> >> Tegger
>
> > I see. *My tire-mounting horror story is all about bent wheels at
> > Sam's Club.
>
> Bet they weren't bent at all. "Bent rim" is a favorite blame for tire
> monkeys who don't know how to true tires properly.
>
> --
> Tegger

No they're bent alright. I kept going back to have them rebalanced.
Every time they'd say "oh yeah they were way off" and there would be
huge freakin' weights on the wheels. After doing this a couple of
times I took it to an actual tire shop for balancing. They brought me
in and showed me the wheel and tire on the balancer, hopping up and
down like a rabbit. He showed me the marks on the inside of the wheel
where the tire machine deformed the rim. Then he took the tire off
and showed me the wheel by itself, also hopping up and down. He
guessed that they didn't bother to see if it was on the machine
straight before breaking the bead. There are two of them like that.

I wouldn't have gone to Sam's Club to buy tires, but they were a gift
from my gf at the time. I prefer to go to a real tire shop, but was
nice of her to buy me a set of tires. I had just over 90K on the
factory Firestone Wilderness ATs, and while they still had plenty of
tread left were getting dry-rotted.

Oh well, live n learn.

-J