IcemanG17

On the way up to SATL I was taking some high speed left hand sweepers and I heard a distinct metal "Ping" (like a bolt breaking)....from the drivers side rear wheel...it happened twice...but no other odd sounds? On the Saturday fun drive I noticed a slight rattle from the left rear only when driving next to a barrier or rock wall....I thought it was the brake dust cover rattling?

Then today on my drive home the noise got MUCH WORSE....a horrible metal on metal high pitched grinding noise that is very bad when turning left, goes away almost completely when turning right and only a slighty bad when going straight? The car drives straight and smooth with no pulling or weird vibrations...only the horrible noise....needless to say it really ruined the drive home...since I had to listen to it for about 130 miles!!

Nothing looked odd under the car and there is no weird marks on the brakes, discs or wheels..(almost sounds like a metal on metal brake disc)....

As I pulled in the driveway at home the sound was HORRIBLE.....high pitched grinding.....even at 10mph!! After unloading the car I backed it out and pulled it into the garage with zero sound at all....

I am thinking its the drivers side rear wheel bearing.....maybe the new 18" wheels where just enough to wear out a marginal bearing?

Any other ideas? I will take a look at it closer tomorrow.....any quick checks to determine if it is the bearing? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

rixter

put it up, take off the rear wheels, then put it in gear and run it... without the load of the wheels it should be much easier to diagnose if it's the bearing
could also be a cv joint

IcemanG17

I was thinking CV joint too....but the drivers side axle was rebuilt only 8K miles ago? The noise is just so HORRIBLE.......but at least I made it home!! Could have been worse being stuck in the mountains where cell phones don't work!

redpathtribe

Brian,

Sounds like the rear wheel bearing. Mine (passenger side) started with a faint howling noticeable on the freeway. It eventually got pretty loud, and like you, it sounded worse in a long left sweeper (opposite of yours), was fairly loud going straigth and almost went away in right hand sweeper. Finally had Dan my mechanic ride with me to listen to it, and he wondered how I could stand to listen to it!

Mark

New wheels....have you checked the lug nuts? (Cheaper fix then the above - tho not the most likely culprit)

IcemanG17

Rick
Actually it is worse in left hand corners.....much better in right hand turns???? So it sounds the same...tne bummer is it looks really difficult to replace?

Mark
The new wheels were put on with 95ftlbs......no problems for the first 300 miles with the new wheels...only the last 130 or so were really bad........

Still odd that there is no driving related symptoms....other than the extremely annoying sound!!!!!!!! All the bad bearing related symptoms I have read typically have bad rear tire wear or not being able to hold an alignment......I didn't have any of those?

AO

Drop link? Probably not, but look and a verify.

fbarnhill

Is it not possible that one of the small parts cam loose from the parking break? I have seen the spring retainers come off on drum breaks before.

Good luck

IcemanG17

After a closer look.....one of the nuts that hold on the dust cover came loose & was grinding the inside of the rotor.....will know more tomorrow when the wheel-rotor comes off....

At this point I consider this good news.....since brakes are pretty easy to fix & I can do it myself!! Worse case scenario I'll need new rotors.....

redpathtribe

Brian,

That is actually good news, the rear bearings are not much fun to replace. Glad to hear you found the culprit!

AO

Robert_H

Brian,

Good to hear that it may be "just" a rotor vs. the bearings. A couple of months ago while in the Boxster, I caught a pebble in my right front rotor the same way and it sounded terrible.

Rob

IcemanG17

Yup it was the top bolt that holds the dust cover on.....why it got loose enough to eventually catch the disc is odd.....another odd fact is the rotors did not have the little screws holding it in place? Maybe the rotor was just a touch loose, which allowed a little movement in certain high G turns to catch a slightly loose bolt and shear it straight off!!!! Bummer is working in my tiny garage.....I really need to work on my flexibilty!! The rotors is shot...but was pretty worn to start with....so new rotors (might as well do both now), little rotor screws, a couple dust cover screws are all ordered from 928intl....should be here Wed.....now I need to get an EZ-out to drill out the sheared bolt....that should be entertaining?!?!? I even thought about glueing it in place with a touch of epoxy...but I'll try the EZ-out 1st?

Richard S

Glad you made it home Brian. Imagine the stress if it had happened during the fun drives. Funny how we always fear the worse, but often it is a simple little problem that somehow sounds like a huge one.

Rich

Imo000

To me that rotor isn't bad. It has a slight mark from the bolt rubbing and the catch mark but nothing that can effect the breaks in any way at all. I would keep it and file down the sharp edge where the bolt head left the gouge, then re install it.

The small screws holing the rotor are only to ease installation. They are not really required and that's why they were left off by the PO. Once the calliper and wheel is installed, the screws become obsolete.

From the pictures, the dust shield bolt sheered off, probably over tightened at some point and slowly broke off over time. Either try an easy out (be careful, they can break easily) or just drill and tap a slightly larger hole and use a slightly larger bolt.