Strange rumbling / shuddering sensation while braking - '15 Kia Sedona

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Mar 2, 2004
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Kentucky
This thread is related to my "wife hit a curb and FIL dropped van off jack" debacle which I posted about some time ago . But this is more mechanical in nature, so figured I'd post here. Cliff notes: Wife hit a curb and punctured a tire, father in law dropped van of the temp jack while attempting to change said tire. That's it in a nutshell. I drove the van home on the spare and it drove like before.

We stopped driving the van until I could get 4 new tires installed/balanced and an alignment. Took it in, alignment was out a little bit according to the printout (nothing major) and corrected.

Now that we have the van back, there's a rumbling/shudder while braking, most noticeable at low speeds. I feel it mostly in the front of the van, seems to be more toward driver's side but difficult to tell. It's not the characteristic warped rotor feel which usually manifests itself at higher speeds and is more of a pulsing. This current sensation is most noticeable under 30mph or so while coming to a stop, only during braking, seems to ride and drive fine otherwise.

I was suspicious of the front drivers wheel/tire, which had more weights put on (about 4oz) than the others to balance, so I swapped it to the passenger rear. That doesn't seem to have changed anything best as I can tell. I had the van on the lift and after a good look over everything, I don't see anything amiss. I've checked tire pressure and lug nut torque all around, all is good there.

I'm rather stumped what else to check or how to proceed from here. Only two things have changed-- new tires and alignment. Bent rim crossed my mind, but surely that would have been immediately apparent when they balanced the new tires? If anyone has any ideas I haven't thought of, I'd sure like to hear them.
 
I'd guess control arm bushings, at this age they could have been getting a little worn, and the impact might have progressed that. I've heard of BMWs having a vibration from control arm bushings.
 
Could be the beginning of degradation in the wheel bearings, resulting from the curb impact. I’ve lost them before when the curb touched the metal wheel, not just the tire. The bearing failure for me showed up gradually. For me it was a side impact during understeer in the snow at around 20mph. I since learned, if in an understeer, to at the last second steer rubber to the curb and it’s worked for me to save the wheel/bearing at the last moment if she’s going over….
 
With wheel bearings-- only during braking is what doesn't make sense to me. And why didn't the wheel bearing make noise driving home from the curb hit while driving on the spare? The vibration/shuddering started after new tires/balancing and alignment. I've had failing wheel bearings before and it's mostly noticeable when turning a corner where the vehicle weight gets pushed to the side of the bad wheel bearing, exacerbating the sound.

I'm afraid this is going to be one of those things where you live with it until the problem gets severe enough that you can pinpoint it. But I'm trying not to take that approach.
 
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It was dropped on the brake disc? Check it carefully for damage
When i got there after the car had fallen, it was resting on the bottom of the ball joint / control arm. That doesn't mean it couldn't have hit the brake rotor on the way down. Good suggestion, I'll check that.
 
I'd guess control arm bushings, at this age they could have been getting a little worn, and the impact might have progressed that. I've heard of BMWs having a vibration from control arm bushings.
I'll check these as well. I wouldn't suspect 52K bushings / 7 years to be bad from miles/age alone, but the van was laying on the ball joint/control arm, so definitely possible.
 
With wheel bearings-- only during braking is what doesn't make sense to me. And why didn't the wheel bearing make noise driving home from the curb hit while driving on the spare? The vibration/shuddering started after new tires/balancing and alignment. I've had failing wheel bearings before and it's mostly noticeable when turning a corner where the vehicle weight gets pushed to the side of the bad wheel bearing, exacerbating the sound.

I'm afraid this is going to be one of those things where you live with it until the problem gets severe enough that you can pinpoint it. But I'm trying not to take that approach.
Braking can change the sound. Is the caliper on the forward or rearward side of the rotor? If it’s on the forward side, braking unloads the bearings. If it’s on the rearward side, it adds vertical weight to the bearings (all this assuming the vehicle is moving forwards).

it certainly could be something else, but like @Rand said, that feeling of a rumble usually has me looking side-eye at the bearings.
 
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