Sounded like I had a flat, but I didn't

[bestwheelbase]

Originally Posted by Brett

My spare will be in the trunk, on the car, or on the paddock during autocross. I don't need reduced weight for going to the grocery store it to buy dog food

Brett

Same here. Except replace autocross with track days and dog food with cat food.

[eikond]

Perhaps a stone got jammed into the grooves in the tire tread? Was it a higher pitch sound like something hard hitting cement or pavement? Or was it a low thumping noise?

If the sound went away, then I would say you had some foreign object stuck or caught momentarily somewhere. Things that make thumping noises that are part of the car tend not to go away.. If the noise continued, I would blame loose lug nuts, out of balance tire, bad alignment, a tire out of round, etc.. But none of those things would simply go away, so I wouldn't stress about it.

[Brett]

It was a low thumping.

Speaking of out of balance wheels, one of my wheels has a shload of balancing weights. I'll post a pic when I get home.

[Bristecom]

It's simple...

[Rampage]

It was probably a pedestrian that never seen the FR-S before and grabbed on. You must have lost him when you made the turn. Poor guy!

[Spaceywilly]

Originally Posted by Rampage

It was probably a pedestrian that never seen the FR-S before and grabbed on. You must have lost him when you made the turn. Poor guy!

You're gonna get some hop-ons

[DommerEOD]

Originally Posted by Brett

My and a co-worker were cruising back from lunch when a sound appeared. At first it sounded like I was going to slow in a high gear and the engine was getting bogged down, but the tach was up around 2k, so I knew that wasn't it. It really sounded like maybe a flat tire. The sound seemed to change with vehicle speed too. We turned down a residential street and parked under a tree, prepared to change a tire, but all 4 were fine. After looking around, checking tire surfaces, wiggling wheels that might have come loose, etc we decided to drive and see if we could figure out which corner it was coming from. The noise was gone!

Along with the noise, you could feel it in the car. The passenger felt it too.

Totally gone now, no idea what it was.

Theories on what the heck that could've been?

Only thing I can think is something was stuck on a tire and fell off when we stopped.

I have nothing to contribute except for this popped into my mind when i read the "sound appeared"..

Skip to 15:20

EDIT: Apparently i can't embed anymore..

[SunnyD]

Originally Posted by Spaceywilly

You're gonna get some hop-ons

I appreciate a good Arrested Development quote :happy0180:

[ESBjiujitsu]

i vote rock in the tire i have had that happen before.

[ngabdala]

Are you even old enough to ride a bicycle?

Originally Posted by DommerEOD

I have nothing to contribute except for this popped into my mind when i read the "sound appeared"..

Skip to 15:20

EDIT: Apparently i can't embed anymore..

[Brett]

Originally Posted by bestwheelbase

Same here. Except replace autocross with track days and dog food with cat food.

I'm too afraid of other people with more car than skill to go to the track. I also have a fear of trees just off the track.

[315FR-S]

Originally Posted by DommerEOD

I have nothing to contribute except for this popped into my mind when i read the "sound appeared"..

Skip to 15:20

EDIT: Apparently i can't embed anymore..

haha. Has someone been watching the magic school bus after bedtime again?? naughty naughty. tv off, its bed time.

[Gyzm0]

Originally Posted by Brett

My and a co-worker were cruising back from lunch when a sound appeared. At first it sounded like I was going to slow in a high gear and the engine was getting bogged down, but the tach was up around 2k, so I knew that wasn't it. It really sounded like maybe a flat tire. The sound seemed to change with vehicle speed too. We turned down a residential street and parked under a tree, prepared to change a tire, but all 4 were fine. After looking around, checking tire surfaces, wiggling wheels that might have come loose, etc we decided to drive and see if we could figure out which corner it was coming from. The noise was gone!

Along with the noise, you could feel it in the car. The passenger felt it too.

Totally gone now, no idea what it was.

Theories on what the heck that could've been?

Only thing I can think is something was stuck on a tire and fell off when we stopped.

OK, this describes exactly what happened to me yesterday.
Since it was pouring heavily, the below 2 theories make sense to me.

Originally Posted by Hawaiian

Maybe there was water in the fuel from somewhere that was causing a backfire, but you burned it all out.

Originally Posted by 86'd

In my Civic, when it rains, water causes the exhaust to touch the bottom of the car and the cooling makes it expand then contract. It's pretty loud and at first thought it was an ABS malfunction or flat tire. This noise also changes with RPMs.

Was it raining?

If not, then I don't know what it was, maybe something just got stuck in the wheel well.

So, which one do you think is more plausible? Has this happened again to someone else since?

PS: sorry to dig up such an old post.

[Ashikabi]

So this happened to me a couple of times. Once it was 3 times ask on a row... driving on highway at ~55mph. Heavy vibration and rumbling noise. Stopped, nothing wrong that I could see. Started driving, no noise. About a mile later, noise and vibration return, stop again. Nothing wrong, restart, no noise or vibration. Few miles later, noise and vibration return, no stop this time. Went away in a couple miles. Never did figure it out