Determine noise: Caliper or wheel bearing?

[sapharage41653]

I know both topics have been discussed alot but I can't distinguish which of these two this could be. First of all my car doesn't do this all the time, sometimes its ONLY when I apply my brakes, sometimes its going in a strait line and not applying brakes, and sometimes its only when i lightly apply my brakes. What it does is make a loud rubbing noise. Not metal on metal but its loud and causes a vibration in the drivers side floor and sometimes throughout the car. You can hear it on the outside and inside of the car. My front drivers wheel is where it seems to be coming from. Now I know this caliper is at least sticking slightly because when the car is jacked up the wheel will not spin freely like it should. Now, I just replaced the cv boots on both sides because the old ones were ripped completely in two. Could this have caused damage to the axle from lack of grease? I drove it with torn boots for quite awhile. It was to be axle, wheel bearing, or caliper. I don't want to replace something that doesn't need to be replaced. I'm a college student and don't have alot of $ to throw around. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. I apologize if this has been solved in another forum. Just need someone to point me in some kind of direction. Thanks again!

 

[spirol]

I'd say the axles are gone because of the lack of grease. Wheel bearing makes a humming sound at highspeeds. To check, jack the wheel and turn the wheel up and down and see if there is play. If there is then your wheel bearing is gone.

 

[sapharage41653]

Well there isn't any play. When I turn the wheel its pretty hard to turn by hand. It won't rotate even half a turn by itself. Could this be my rotor rubbing against my caliper? Thats one thing I haven't checked. never thought of it actually.

 

[VerbalKint]

Very similar to what happened to me.

Front driver caliper froze up, and applied constant pressure on the pads, causing them to be in constant contact with the Rotor.

At first, I was not sure if it was a wheel bearing, or the brakes, or what, but it became immediatly apparent after pulling the caliper off.

The caliper piston has some rust on it, from where the rubber boot has torn. I was going to rebuild the caliper, but it was just as cheap to get a 'used' caliper from a junkyard that still had a good boot, and rebuild it.

I'd check this, especially if the tire won't rotate on its own very much after a spin.

 

[sapharage41653]

Thanks Verbalkint...As much as I'd love to replace all these parts with new ones I can't. I'm going to go for the caliper first considering the wheel is pretty much locked and it isn't acting like a wheel bearing. Appreciate the tip.

 

[sapharage41653]

Well, I took off the calipers from the rear passenger side and cleaned it with synthetic caliper grease. The wheel isn't stuck anymore and spins alot better on its own. That noise is still there. Going to jack it up again tomorrow with a friend and see if I can't figure something out. I'll post all results.

 

[sapharage41653]

Well guys and gals I will tell you what solved my problem: A new set of brake bads on the drivers side rear. My caliper was stuck and it heated the pads so bad that they cracked in several places on the inner and outer pad. Replaced these and viola! No noise! Those were brand new pads too!

 

[Bestwestranger]

I had the same problem at the same wheel. Turns out it was my proportioning valve that was the culprit.

 

[eazy]

My caliper was stuck and it heated the pads so bad that they cracked in several places on the inner and outer pad. Replaced these and viola! No noise! Those were brand new pads too!

Hey did you end up buying a new caliper also or just the pads. If you kept the caliper what did you do to get it working properly again? Thanks I have the same problem on the same wheel.

 

[styx]

have a mechanic look at it he can tell you with in 5 sec of hearing the sound what it is. this topic can be argued for ever with out ever hearing the sound. i can tell you with in 5 secs, but i would have to hear it, so don't post i have a squeeeeeeeek from my wheel people