Background to this: I was rear-ended earlier this year where the damage was supposedly all cosmetic and body / frame-related (e.g. no mechanical damage). The car was sent to a highly reputable race shop that also happens to have a body shop and 100% repaired. I didn't drive the car for about three months as I was also out of town while the car was being repaired.

Ever since I got the car back, I've noticed that I can feel what seems like the drivetrain shuddering when starting off from a dead stop with the wheel turned (i.e. taking a turn from a stop sign or red traffic light). I can feel the shuddering both through the steering wheel and being transmitted throughout the car itself. I don't observe the issue when taking a slow turn after the car is already rolling, only when I'm first taking off in 1st gear. At first I thought it might be due to the toe out I was running, but the toe has since been zeroed out and the issue remains. Is there any way this could be indicative of diff / TC damage? Other ideas? Might this be entirely normal and I simply forgot what it felt like to drive the car after it sitting for so long?

 

I am having the same issue. It only happens when the car is in gear, if I put the clutch in mid turn it doesn't do it. I am confused about this too.

 

Did yours only develop recently? Did anything happen that you think might have caused it?

 

I recently purchased the car and I have not changed anything yet. The weird part is that I didn't notice it when I drove the car before buying it. The owner said that he did get it aligned right before it was sold so maybe something is wrong with that. I did notice that the steering wheels is slightly turned right when the car is going straight. After some research it seems that the crooked wheel is due to an alignment problem so hopefully they are related.

 

I had something very similar to this happen shortly after I switched out the oil in my drivetrain with a non-stock, but commonly recommended oil. I thought maybe something was going bad, and I called a well known shop and asked them some questions, they said it was likely that my something in one of my diffs wasn't grabbing, and told me to take out the oil and put stock fluid back in. After about 100 miles it went away, but the shop said if I drove on it to much it could of ruined my diff and needed a rebuild/replacement.

I suggest changing the oil in your diff/tcase and checking it for signs of problems and it probably wouldn't hurt to change it out anyway.

 

Power Steering maybe causing a load on the engine? I don't see why that would change all of a sudden though. I'm stumped.

 

Hmm, I've been running Redline fluid in there since the clutch was done about 5,000 miles ago, but I suppose it couldn't hurt to put in some new stuff.

The only way I could possibly imagine the diff being damaged as a result of the accident is that I was almost stopped when it occurred but then was thrown forwards from the impact despite being hard on the brakes. I just don't see how that would've caused any significant damage.

 

How bad was the rear-end? How far in did the rear crush?

If it only happens when the wheel is turned, to me it almost sounds like a suspension thing. But I honestly don't know.

 

It was bad enough to completely crumple the driver's side quarter panel (the hit was biased towards the driver's side) but not to the point that the bodywork was touching the tire:

 

Anyone else have any ideas?

 

Just curious if you might have found and answer?

 

The rear differential has clutch packs. With the correct lubricant they will release when cornering. The friction material in the clutch pack and the lubricant are matched to provide this effect. So, the first thing I would try is going back to OEM lubricant.