long story short,

the cause: deep pothole. dented the wheel pretty badly. drove around for a week with bad alignment while the replacement wheel and bushings were being shipped.

here's whats been done: lower control arm torn bushings replaced with pedders polyurethane bushings. dented wheel replaced, remounted old tire. 4 wheel alignment.

when i got the car back there was a torque steer/wheel pull sensation. whenever i put my foot on the gas the steering wheel would pull to the left. after a month this happens while driving and would explain the pull:





my dad found this bolt a few meters behind the car. you can see the tire tracks on the street from when this occured and i managed to direct it towards the closest intersection and as far off the road as possible. thats transmission fluid leaking, the half shaft was pulled out at the same time. brought it back to the shop and they apologized, reinstalled the bolt, control arm, reinstalled the half shaft, refilled the trans fluid, and said that luckily nothing else was affected.

when i got the car back it started to hear this extra road noise. it was above the normal NVH from the polyurethane bushings. it is a constant groaning noise. after couple weeks or so of driving it has gotten progressively much louder. i swapped my front and rear wheels to see if its a tire issue and the noise remains. it seriously sounds like a cessna propeller airplane is under my car.

the noise is most audible between 25mph and 45mph. 50mph+ and road noise/engine noise sort of covers it up but you can hear its still there.

i dont want to bring the car back to this shop (as i've lost all confidence in them) but i also have no idea how to troubleshoot or fix this issue. in another forum, a member commented that it might be the wheel bearing. any thoughts before i bring it back to the shop?

 

the noise is most noticable when turning left. i brought it to the mechanic and they drove it around with me. they could hear the noise turning left, sort of like a grinding noise. they lifted it up on a jack and had the car running. they had a stethoscope and could hear the grinding of the bearings. when they stopped the opposite wheel the load would be on the problem wheel and the grinding would be louder.

they are replacing the bearing (comes with the hub assembly) for the cost of parts. they are eating the labor because of what happened earlier as a gesture to accomodate what happened earlier.