I just noticed this strange noise coming from one of my front wheels yesterday and I'm looking for a bit of help trying to track down what it might be.

The noise only occurs when the car is moving, regardless of if it's in gear nor not. It seems to get louder the quicker you go, and has a "circular" repeat to it which is what makes me think it's wheel related. Also I only seem to notice it once the car has been on the move for a while.

My first thought was sticking calliper but none of the brake discs feel overly hot once I've stopped, and pad wear seems to be even across the board. Also I've not noticed any uneven braking (not that I can easily test that with the roads being covered in snow and ice).

With the bad weather I've not been able to jack the car up and/or take the wheel off to have a closer look, but with a bit of luck I'll get a chance over the weekend.

Could it be a wheel bearing?

Any other thoughts are most welcome?

 

Warped disc?

 

Not thought of that Wobbly.

Is there an easy way to tell if it's warped? I guess you need to take it off and look at it.

 

Debris in between the 'splash guard' and the disc ?

 

Had that myself!

 

foreign object in the tyre or tread

 

Can you decribe the sound a bit better please. Is it a squeel, whine, grinding noise, bumping noise, one side or both sides, front or back, etc., etc.

If it is repetitive and speeds up as the car speeds up it can be lots of things moving around near the wheel such as brake dust, dirt or debris trapped between the pad and disc, wear indicators on the pad, floating pad, warped disc, worn disc, bearing, slopy caliper, etc.

 

Well I had a good look round each corner of the car this afternoon. I checked each tyre for damage/nails/screws etc, missing wheel weights and tyre pressures. Everything was normal.

I removed each set of brake pads in turn hoping to simply find a loose piece of something between the pads and discs, but nothing. I gave each corner a good clean whilst I had the car jacked up.

I did however notice on one of the front pads it was a little worn away on the inside, and there was more resistance than normal when turning the wheel by hand when it was jacked up. Also when I spun the wheel it would make a noise then stop then do it again as the wheel spun round one revolution.



I'm 99% sure that it's just a case of new discs and pads for the front, and what you see here is the pad rubbing against the centre of the disc, now that it's worn down. The marks were clearly new and I can't imagine it would take much to plain away the pad like that.

What do you think? New discs and pads for the front?

gt750boy - The only way I could describe the noise was as metallic.

 

If that is a groove on the face of the pad close to the hub you would have a matching groove on the disc near the hub. If this is the case you have two options.

One, have the disc machined smooth to remove any grooves. This assumes that there is suffcient 'meat' on the disc to handle the removal.

Two, replace both the discs.

Either way you would need to replace the pads as well.

IF that is a groove you would probably hear a bit of a squealing noise that may or may not go when the brakes are applied. It could be cyclic and increasing in frequency as you go faster. There may even be a speed when the noise disappears completely. It may only occur when hot, or only when cold.

Whatever, IF that is a groove there will probably be noise.

This can be caused by a number of tings.

1- Normal wear on the brakes. How many miles are on it and when where pads and discs last changed?

2- Caliper not releasing completely, either because it's partially seized, sliders are partialy seized, or the caliper is hanging up. Make sure that all sliding parts move correctly and sliders have copper grease. MAKE SURE THERE IS NO GREASE ON THE BRAKING SURFACE ITSELF.

3- Gunk in the brake line causing the fluid to flow abnormally

Most often these issues are caused by number one. I would replace the pads and discs (good opportunity to upgrade if you so desire), give everything a good clean, rthen make sure the brakes work correctly. Check them again after a few days of mixed driving to ensure everything is seating correctly and there are no other issues.

Good luck.

 

Cheers for that, you confirmed what I was thinking when I took the pads off the car and saw that groove. It has been a while since I last changed the discs and there isn't a massive amount of meat left on them