Bizarre problem, possible suspension?

Jim Wright wrightj@apple.com
Sat, 15 Dec 2001 02:05:59 -0600


Strange problem tonight, my car had been parked for a number of hours, about
11:30pm I got in to drive home, backing out of the parking space the oddest
thing happened, and I can't quite describe it.  There was a kind of groaning
noise from the passenger side of the car, and it felt like one of the wheels
wasn't rotating.  Kind of like that feeling you get when you're pushing a
shopping cart at the grocery store and something jams one of the wheels.

I immediately stopped, checked all 4 wheels, nothing seemed to be jammed in
there.  Backed out fully, seemed OK, did a lap around the parking lot
(slowly), had the hesitation during two turns, then seemed to go away.
Drive home was uneventful.

I'm extremely baffled by what had happened, and why.  I'm wondering if this
might be related to another problem that happens to me in colder weather
(below 45 or so, which by the way causes the folks here in Austin to think
they're living in the arctic circle or something the way they all throw on
parkas and such), the car tends to bottom out a bit when it first gets
going, then is fine after a bit, I'm assuming once the springs warm up some.
The only thing I can think of was that one of the wheels had been rubbing
against something?  Was too dark to check that, but I'll be looking in the
AM.

Probably worth mentioning that my '91 is a bit over 198K and still using all
of the original suspension parts.  LOL  I've had struts in my garage for 2
years but never quite had the time to put them on, kept thinking I'd get a
few more miles out of the ones on the car...  Put 120K miles on the original
spark plugs too for that matter.  If it ain't broke...