Lowered car probs or CV joint?

[wildncrazy]

I have had my car lowered for about 2 years now with no ill effects, but just about a month ago I started experiencing something that seemed like a tire prob.

Under acceleration I would feel a little thump noise kinda like the old wrinkle wall slicks used to do so I thought I had a tire prob because the tires were old.

I changed to the new Direzza Star Spec (a very fine choice indeed) and the noise didn't go away. Now it is getting worse or at least I can sense it more due to the stiffer sidewalls of the new tires.

Now I can feel a little coarseness (I know of no other way to describe it) under acceleration. The stronger the acceleration the worse the feel. This feels kinda like what I felt when I had a CV joint go out on my Mazda.

Intellectually it seems that I am probably experiencing the dreaded spline/diff issue of a lowered car, but how can I be sure? Is there a visual check I can do to see if that is it?

Oh, BTW, I had the TSB of retorquing the rear wheel just before the car was lowered so while I don't think it could be it, I guess there is the possibility of that problem being thrown in the mix.

[repiv]

I have first hand experience with the rear hub nut thing. It's a click or 2 or 3 when changing directions and moving off. Upping the torque fixes it. Your's is not this.
Yours is most likely the typical inner CV joint acceleration "vibration blues". This is when CV joints have developed their normal wear pattern. At this point, if the car is lowered, the spider bearings begin to develop a slightly offset, newer wear pattern. A time will come when the spiders bounce back and forth between the new and old wear grooves (each set of grooves being just a bit unique and at varying depths). I believe your CV buckets have come to this time. It will only get worse and worse. The vibrations will become more and more evident with less and less hard acceleration.
You have some options. Did you install 1/2 shaft spacers? I'm going to guess you haven't. You could put them in now and you may get rid of the symptoms for a while. How long depends on how badly the CV buckets were pitted to begin with. Go for the split spacers as they are much easier to install.
Another option is to swap the inner CV joints from one side to the other. "Jasonoff" has a write up on how to do this on this site. This will most likely take care of the vibrations for as long as you own the car.
A third options is to put in slightly used 1/2 shafts or CV joints. The final option is to get brand new 1/2 shafts or CV joints.

[desmo4]

The new half shafts are about $400 a piece and by the time you add the labor of all the moving around drive shafts it might pay to put in new parts. Mine were worn and had noticeable motion in them at 85k. Since the car never required any parts other than filters and oil, I figured it deserved some new drive shafts and a propeller shaft. At the same time I installed the Mugen suspension which lowered the car about an inch or so. Which seems fortuitous now.

Jonathan

[wildncrazy]

I was afeared that was it.

There's no visual inspection or shaking of parts that would let me be sure?

I really don't have time right now to work on the car -wouldn't you know it.

[repiv]

I was afeared that was it.

There's no visual inspection or shaking of parts that would let me be sure?

I really don't have time right now to work on the car -wouldn't you know it.

Unfortunately, pitted CV buckets won't show on an exterior inspection. You must remove them and disassembly them, clean them out and then you can see how bad the pits are. The very first sign that they are in need of attention is the accelerative vibration that gets worse.
Till then, you can simply drive more sedately, just below the threshold of the vibration and ticking. Car repairs never come at a convenient time. In this case, some people install the spacers at the time of lowering a car with developed CV wear patterns, just for insurance. Sometimes it pays off while other times, it just forestalls the inevitable.