Trying to locate the cause of a horrible scraping sound...

[1LE]

Last year at this time, the car didn't make any bad noises. Then in the Summer, the left rear wheel bearing failed and turned into a really big deal. When I finally got the car back in January (with a new axle and upright), it would make an occasional very light scraping sound under hard cornering.

Then the left rear brake caliper seized. After rebuilding that, I didn't hear the scraping sound again.

Then I took it in for an alignment to find that the eccentric bolts were seized up. I cut those out and replaced the arms. At the same time I replaced the rally computer sensor magnets that got removed during the wheel bearing work.

Ever since then the car makes a horrendously loud scraping sound at anything over a walking pace. Pushing the car around it can't be heard. No sound when turning wheels by hand. However, as soon as I get past walking pace, it goes from quiet to GRUNCH ... GRUNCH ... GRUNCH at about the speed you'd expect from say, a brake rotor rubbing on a dust shield. So far, even after running the car around for awhile listening to that horrible noise, I can't locate the source. Nothing gets warm. I can't find anything that's showing any signs of scraping.

Has anyone had this before, and what did you find?

 

[97gsxIA]

What kind of wheel weights are on your rim when they did the alignment?
Clip-on-lip or spoke stamps?

Check your clearances between the rim and joints off the knuckle including your tie-rod end.

 

[1LE]

What kind of wheel weights are on your rim when they did the alignment?
Clip-on-lip or spoke stamps?

Check your clearances between the rim and joints off the knuckle including your tie-rod end.

Clip-on-lip. Both inside and outside, but they're very slim.

Clearances look good. All the suspension ends are pretty much tucked behind the rotor. Slight extension past here and there, but the stock brakes are pretty small. Clearance to the rim edge is quite large. Over an inch I'm guesstimating. Even when the weights swing by it'll be an inch or so.

 

[gst-turbo]

check ## lower control arm. Mine started very light then one day it was very loud. If it loud enough you can start grabing the parts and feel vibration.

 

[1LE]

I've never had the wheels on and off a car so many times in one day.

Despite the brake dust shields all looking fine, one of them was the culprit. I ran a small screwdriver around to check clearances and they all seemed fine/similar. Was thinking my next step would be to pull all the brakes apart and remove all the dust shields just to rule them out. However, it's getting late, so I decided my last ditch effort for the day would be to take a big screwdriver and work my way around, hammering as I went on the side that had the most work done recently...

That got it. Somehow, that one shield must have gotten dinged from the backside just enough to rub on the one "corner" that can't be seen without pulling the brakes off. It's now perfect going straight and turning left. Normal right turns are fine too, but really hard right turns will make a slight scraping sound. I can live with that until the next major brake service, when I'll try to find a replacement dust shield for that corner.