fliplyricist1

Well I turned down my stereo for once today and noticed that when I was driving, there is a LOUD ass squealing that seems to be emanating from the front drivers side of my car. The squealing is constant and seems to be coming from the wheel area....sounds like metal is grinding HARD against metal and sounds scary as shit. It doesn't waver with turning, etc...just squeals and intensifies as speed intensifies. And I noticed that when the car is placed in reverse gear, the sound is MADNESS...like someone is taking an electric grinder to the front of my car WTF. The front and rear brakes showed like 60 percent not more than 8 months ago, so I don't think that could be it? And well, it's not when I brake but it's ALL THE TIME. Could it possibly be rotors? Car shakes hard at 40mph +, so I'm thinking this may be inter-related. Visual inspection doesn't yield anything. BTW, car is an auto, but I'm thinking (and praying) it's not a tranny issue

Thanks in advance

Cocoa

iTrader: (2)

possibly warped rotor, and or pads

fliplyricist1

thanks man...guess its time to bring it in to midas or meineke for an inspection....

ZeroCL

Ok so when your in drive, the noise increase as you accelerate, the wheel is turning one way, then when in reverse it obviously going the other way, so my assumption is something with the rotors or pads as well. something isnt aligned right and they're hanging on something else causing the grinding noise. then when you go in reverse its just catching differently. check your pads, i know mine had uneven wear when i replaced them, they might just be bare.

fliplyricist1

thanks man

just curious how much would I typically be looking at in terms of price for replacing front pads and/or rotors?

just sucks this is happening at a crucial point in my financial situation...

JStoops

belt maybe? i havent a clue of the layout of the belts in the 3.0

fliplyricist1

is it safe to spray the drive belts with wd40?

shnee

no!
but i think silicone spray is okay?

fliplyricist1

oh ok lol thanks for the headsup

well I'm about to bring the car to meineke...hopefully they won't have a hardtime checking the car out since it's slammed..... : /

XxAtTheGatesxX

I think it's warped rotors because I had the same thing going on. I just had my rotors/pads replaced and the sound was gone.

Is yours a '97? Cause brake jobs on 97s are a bitch and need to be done at a shop due to the hub-over design. Unfortunately my mechanic jacked up one of my bearings while pressing them off so it had to be replaced. The part itself cost $350. Not saying that'll happen to you, but for your sake I hope it doesn't. I can't give you a price because I had him replace a lot of things that weekend.

DaInFaMMuS1

Metal tab of brakepads on bad rotor = loud painful sounds!

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Get some belt dressing, def sounds like one of your belts, didn't you just replace your alt not to long ago? Start there

ZeroCL

If it ends up being rotors and pads it can get costly. hopefully spraying your belts works. You dont want to have to replace rotors..

STL+3.0CL

Def, sounds like pads are worn out. Even if you can see 25+% on the outside the insides are usually 10% more worn in.

When you say the car shakes bad at 40+ mph is that with or without braking?

fliplyricist1

^^ without braking...it's just when the car is cruising ...intensifies with throttle and gets unnecessarily scary over 50mph...that's why I don't take highways anymore. and the squealing is just when the car is in motion, does not waver or change at all with braking

yeah I've definitely put off some stuff on this car wayyyy too long....I actually just made a full-on appointment for tomorrow at les shwab...I'm praying it's not the brake pads but I fear it probably is...could it also be a sign of squeaking bad or worn ball joints?

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

um, he's saying the sound's coming from the engine bay i thought? Could also be a wheel bearing

Gregyz

Ya my guess would be a warped rotor. they get bent so easy if you live in an area that gets a lot of rain, plus intense heat.

DaInFaMMuS1

when my rotors and pads were bad it didnt matter if i was braking or not, it would make this fingernail on chalkboard sound coming from my wheels it was HORRIBLE.

STL+3.0CL

well now im confused.
OP suggested the squeel was coming from the wheel... If it is indeed a belt, then some belt treatment spray is just gonna silence it temporarily.

The squeel has to be warning indicators, or possible wheel bearings. Pray that its pads and not bearings.

I guess im lost on why a warped rotor would cause massive vibration at speeds over 40mph. unless you actually bent your rotor. a "warped" rotor should only cause vibration during braking... correct?

the only other thing I can think of would be a stuck/locked caliper, but you would def notice that!

I think the two problems are totally unrelated. OP when was the last time you looked under your car? lots of tire wear or uneven wear on either side?

STL+3.0CL

I would be praying it is pads...

Anyways, "unnecessarily scary" vibration on acceleration could also be destroyed motor mounts or transmission mount. Or a blown axle/joint if thats the case then do not drive your car bro. which is what prompted me to ask in my previous post when the last time you looked under your car was.

tron

sounds like a wheel bearing. to check, put the car on jack stands and leave the wheels on. grab the tire by both sides and try to move them back and forth. If there is any play coming from the bearing then its shot.

JStoops

if you do need brake rotors for a '97 I have a brand new set sitting in my closet brembo drilled/slotted (they dont fit my car) if you wanna buy em off me

fliplyricist1

thanks so much guys!

but this is very very odd

I let the car sit for an hour or so, then went out for a long ass drive. when i first got into the car and started driving slow, I could make out the squealing still but it was quite faint. I then gave the brakes a good hard couple of full pumps...and the sound completely went away. Drove around for about 40 miles city driving stop and go...absolutely no squealing now.

Weird. I'm wondering if just some shit got trapped on the rotor since there's a lot of construction and shit on the roads.

Seemed to have healed itself though, but I'm going to still take it in to get it inspected.

Oh, and I've already tried the 'shifting the wheel back and forth for play' and there is none, so I think either the vibration is caused by huge uneven tire wear (and yes, the tire wear on the drivers side is almost down to steel thread while the passenger is even) or a bend in a rim, though I doubt that.

I'll keep you guys posted!

asianspec

iTrader: (1)

whats up bro. get that checked man. if the rotor is warped then time to go with cross-slotted rotors unless you want to resurface them. how's the car handling? does it shake when you brake?

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

yeah cuz cross-slotted don't warp

LocoCoco

A belt should have nothing to do with it if it only sounds while driving. (Belt dressings are, as mentioned, a quick fix anyway. Measure the deflection for proper tension, adjust it if necessary, or replace it if necessary. They're cheap, usually easy to change, and very critical if the wrong one breaks. ie. water pump).

A stone stuck between the dust shield and rotor can certainly sound like a seagull with diarrhea. That would be my bet in this case, especially since you said the sound suddenly disappeared.

Don't quote me on this, but wheel bearings shouldn't ever sound as bad as you described it. They usually just hum real loud, and depending on which side is worse, you'll hear the problematic on while turning one way and not the other.



Hope she does well now!



LC.

Doctorsound

Wow, I'm not the only one who's delt with that noise!

jfkhan

it could also be uneven wear of the pads, especially the insdie one which you cannot inspect visually, mine were worn so bad that there was no pad surface left and the backing plate was grinding against the rotor destroying it completely....just my lazy ass did not look at it soon enough.....I knew that the brake job was coming but when ever I did a visual the oustside pads looked thick enough and I kept delaying it ......

so if you r handy unmount the tire and chcek the inside pads......as calipers get older the rubber bushing inside the caliper pistons get worn out and this often leads to uneven wear of pads....I am still debating getting a caliper rebulit kits and giving it a good overhaul.......

my 2%

JFK

SwervinCL

My guess is the pads...

fliplyricist1

hey guys thanks again for all the replies/suggestions!

Well took it in and turns out that my pads and brakes are fine...still about 40 percent left up front. rotors are also fine. guy said his best guess was that something got caught in there temporarily causing the sound. but it's all cleared up now. also got my alignment done....I'm at -3.8 left and -3.6 right camber up front lol but he got my toe just about at 0 so I'm happy. he told me the vibrations are probably caused by the terrible toe I had combined with the horrible uneven tire wear. There's still vibration now but a lot less than before, but I'm still on the same nearly bald tire.

gotta bring the new tires to them to get those mounted soon


thanks again guys!

DaInFaMMuS1

what are the dimensions of the tires you're putting on? theyre gonna be stretched on the rim also right?

fliplyricist1

same as the current ones on the car

205/40 up front, yep it's stretched

XxAtTheGatesxX

Yeah I had the same one as you and Chris. It came at seemingly random times.

I got my rotors and pads changed and now it's gone.

asianspec

iTrader: (1)

they warp just as fast or even faster than OEM's

shnee

i just had my mechanic check out my steering/suspension problems, and the dude called me and said "I found your problem, YOU'RE TIRES ARE FUCKED!"
car is getting 4 new tires right now, called around and got a price match for tire rack at mr. tire.
then it's off to tires plus for my free alignment
then replacing the cv axle myself next week, if all goes as planned.

quick (noob) question for anyone reading: if my wheel bearings are shot, will replacing the cv axle take care of it?

thanks for letting me use your thread flip

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

If u don't bed them in right, they warp a hell of a lot faster than oems