New tire or not - a tread beginning to loosen up will also cause a
whump-whump-whump. Just happened on a lady friends Oldsmobile.

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

neil N wrote:
> Hi all.
>
> Apologies in advance for such a long post.
>
> Problem:
>
> Turning left in circles, parking lot speed, driver window open,
> passenger closed, I hear a subtle but audible and consistent "whump
> whump whump..." from RH front. No noise turning circles in other
> direction or driving at highway/city speeds.
>
> Didn't notice sound before I replaced a bunch of front end parts
> (basically everything but upper control arm bushings and steering rack
> and steering relay box)
>
> Prior to my work, new Yoko Y370's installed on "new" used 14" steel
> wheels. A subtle vibration felt 50-60 MPH. Wheels rebalanced 2x. At
> that time, was told (and saw) that at least one of the wheels fairly
> out of round. One of my old wheels was swapped for the most out of
> round wheel. But, new used rim still on RH front wheel. Vibration
> remained at that time, but seems to be gone with the new parts I
> installed. i.e. vibration could have been there before and/or was
> exacperated due to worn front end parts.
>
> Could this sound indicate an out of round wheel? If not, what else
> should I look for?
>
> Wheel bearings installed/adjusted on the bench and vehicle, but will
> check bearing adjustments again though I doubt that is the issue.
> Aside from slight drift to right at highway speeds, (I had to swap in
> a used tie rod, fix radius arm hole, etc.) vehicle drives fine with no
> other sounds or issues.
>
> Thanks much for any sage advice,
>
> Neil.
>
> --
> Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"
>
> http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines
>
>
>