Metal squeaking front left wheel

[BostonGST]

About a month ago I've been getting a metal squeaking noise from the front left wheel. When I first reverse out of my parking spot I hear it and it used to go away soon after that. Now it's all the time. I also thought it was linked to my breaking but now it does it even when coasting in neutral. I Jacked the car up to look at the axle and control arm and it looks fine, and if I spin the wheel by hand it squeaks too. Also I changed my break pads last year and 8k ish miles ago.

Any idea what to check to tell what it is? It's only on the front drivers wheel and getting worse.

 

[jakk220]

Sounds a lot like you have a bad wheel bearing.

 

[BostonGST]

i was really hoping that's not what it is. Any advice for replacing? There's no vfaq, I have to remove the whole axle? And it's definitely all rusted so tons of pb blaster?

 

[19gsx91]

Before you start replacing your wheel bearing double check that the dust shield (or brake hardware) is not interfering with your rotor at all, (I have seen this happen a lot) with the car safely in the air and the wheel off I would spin the hub (Vehicle in neutral of course) and you should be able to isolate the sound fairly easily with the wheel off. No point spending a lot of time and money to change something that may of been a cheap/free fix.

 

[99 Red Rocket]

Like he said sounds like a wheel bearing not too bad of a job either with the right tools usually if it's a wheel bearing you can jack up the car and if you are able to shake the wheel even a little back and forth (not spin it) then it's usually the wheel bearing but double check everything and the brake shield because those can get rusty and make tons of noise.

 

[Christoph]

With your wheel on and bolted down and the front tire jacked up, if you try and push and pull the wheel toward you and back into the wheel well in a shaking motion it is the wheel bearing for sure. If you are in an area where the car gets rusty it could be your brake dust shield hitting your rotor but I doubt it since you said the sound gradually increased. Removing the wheel bearing is very simple, remove your tire, take out the cotter pin, unbolt the axle nut, remove the 4 bolts on the back side of the knuckle, and hit/pry/pull the hub off the knuckle. Unfortunately the axles like to seize themselves inside the hub, no problemo though get a hub puller and you will not regret it one bit, you can also use PB Blaster. Whatever you do, DO NOT hit the end of the axle, at least with a metal mallet, you will mushroom the top and your axle end is toast. When installing everything back liberally apply ANTI SEIZE, it's your best friend.

 

[fatboyjonjon]

Remove your brake system from thst wheel and rotate the hub by hand. Which means u need to jack up both sides on level ground and block the rear wheel and out the car in neutral after u get the bracket off. Turn the hub by hand. If it is hard to turn by hand or you feel a catch or can hear it while turning by hand then there is ur answer. If your not sure and it's just a fwd car then have someone start her up and let the wheel spin and listen for it. Just be sure to have ur hands clear of moving parts and shut the car off while it's still in motion to prevent axle spline or transmission damage. I've replaced 3 or 4 hub bearings in several different cars and sometimes this is the only way to diagnose it.

 

[BostonGST]

I think it may just be dirty brakes. I went up to the mountains a few times this month and over dirt roads. When I took out the pads to see how much was left I cleaned everything and sanded out some of the rust and put it back together and no more squeking for now so hopefully that was it! Also, wheel did not move side to side when I tried that so hopefully bearings are okay and I save $70!

 

[19gsx91]

Good to hear! Glad you resolved it without major issue.

 

[fatboyjonjon]

Great. Bearings usual make a roaring sound over a squel. But you can never rule anything out until you get in there and check it

 

[19gsx91]

Also bearings will (usually) have a roaring noise that will go away when going around a corner in one direction, but not the other assuming it is a single wheel bearing that is bad.