Noise on slow , extreme turn

[micbrody]

I took car for longest round trip. 23 miles each way. I did not go on highway ; but many stretches of 45-55 mph driving with stop lights. Everything sounds fine. I pull into destination parking lot but have to make 3 point turn. I crank wheel as far left as possible, as I creep forward. I hear very loud low frequency vibration from right front (not sure). The rest of the three point turn has no sounds. I get back into car after an hour. I don't hear anything unusual until I again, make complete , maximum hard left at slow speed. I get similar sound; not as long. I try to recreate by going around a culvisac doing complete left turns . No more noise.
What's the diagnosis?

I had mechanic look at car 9 months ago when I purchased. He said the ball joints looked like they were replaced and looked good; but I needed to replace bushings on control arm and tie rods.

Maybe lower ball joint needs grease?? If one can?

My plan this winter was to replace bushings and tie rods . Should I just replace ball joints? How about bearings ?

[divace73]

this may be a long shot, but check if the sliders in the calipers are lubricated,, I use to have what sounds similar and when I rechecked and re-lubricated the slider it went away???

[DieselSpider]

Did you check for signs of the tires rubbing the wheel well or frame? You'll see the rub marks where contact is made. If it is the brakes making noise during a hard turn then it may be time to clean, repack and correctly tighten the wheel bearings since the wheel should not wobble enough to make the caliper growl.

[micbrody]

I think I found the problem. I jacked up front and tested wheel bearings. Wheels do move 12oclock to 6 oclock, but barely (I think less than 1/8th of an inch free play measured at top and bottom of tire); which I believe means that wheel bearings are still fairly good. Also, no noise from bearings when turning; just a sound of pads mildly rubbing rotor (that's normal, correct?)

When I turned wheel hard left, I noticed that the inner plastic wheel well guard near shock tower was cracked, and one part of it seemed to be fairly close to inside of tire; since car was jacked up, tire sagged sufficiently away from plastic. When car jack removed, clearance was fairly small. (On left front tire, with wheel turned to the right, the plastic lining edge had much more clearance , and it was not cracked). Upon inspecting inside of tire where plastic could have touched tire, there were minor scratch marks in circular fashion around side part of tread/sidewall.

So I believe that after driving car a little bit, the suspension sags down a little bit; and when I make extreme turn, it rubs against the plastic.