I noticed last night that when I hit the 45-55mph range that I get a shake in the front end. I can also feel a very slight tap in the wheel while the shake is happening, but there is no audible noise. I made a 280 mile interstate trip at speeds 55-70mph this past weekend and felt nothing out of the ordinary. It feels like the shake is coming from the right from, but I can't be sure. I thought it might be a wheel balance problem, but would that appear that quickly?

 

Could have thrown a weight, could have picked up a glob of tar or other matter, could be wheel hub, could be LCA. Pretty much in that order.

 

Had a similar experience a few years back with my Mazda truck. Made a 400 mile round trip from home and back.
Got up the next morning to go to the store. Barely got out of the driveway and felt a shake/thump in the right front. Thought I had a flat. Got out and looked. No flat, but found a big lump where the tire had a seperated belt.

No problems on the trip. Smooth ride the whole way. Apparently the tire decided to seperate overnight while sitting parked in the driveway. WTH ?
Came to the conclusion that it must have been a marginal tire and the heat up/cool down from the trip was the fatal blow.
Glad it didn't let go on the trip.

Fwiw. It was a Michelin tire with 20k miles and 2/3 tread left.

 

Thanks for the input fellows. The weather is beautiful today, so I'm going to jack it up and pull the wheel to see if there is a visible problem with the tire, weights, or any of the suspension parts on that side. My first thought was wheel balance, but didn't think about a weight actually coming off. I had an issue when it was cold this winter with a clunking on the right side. I thought it might be the sway bar or LCA, but once the temp got above freezing it didn't make the noise anymore. Drove to work today, which is all in-town low speed, and didn't feel a thing.

 

Just at 40-55mph sounds very much like cupped tires or wheel hub as stated above.

How old are your tires and did you have any incidents this winter where your car spun out or got stuck somewhere?

 

No, no incidents of curbing or anything like that. We have a lot of nasty potholes around right now, but I try my darnedest to avoid those. I did top off the air on all my tires before we left on Saturday. The tires themselves are closing in on their end of life I'm sure. Is there any way to know if it's the hub visually or is that something that would require a more in-depth inspection?

 

A machine can test them, but usually you know if a hub is bad because of the sound or shutter in braking and driving.

The tires are probably the problem. Cupped (flat spot) or broken belt from the potholes.

 

Found it! All the weights on the drivers side wheel have fallen off. I have a set of Cragars that don't have the lip they usually attach the weights to. They were stuck on the wheel behind the spokes. Well, all that's there is the remnants of some double sided tape. Off to the tire shop for a balance tomorrow I guess.

 

Good deal

Also you should give a kudos to donbrew(post #2) for his suggestion of checking for a thrown weight.

 

I can't handle kudos. Had I known Cragars were involved I wouldn't even have mentioned the other bits.