Troubleshooting Front End Noise

[Kaliv]

I know I've mentioned this a few other times in other threads, but now the issue is starting to become more frequent and warrants more of my attention. The problem is at low speeds, I get a noise once in a while...and I can sort of feel it in the steering wheel as well. To get it to go away, I move the wheel back and forth a little. Not sure if it's coincidence that it goes away or if it helps. To define low speed, we're talking about moving in stop and go traffic and pulling into the driveway, ie <5 mph. Does not happen if I apply the brakes or accelerate, only happens if I'm coasting.

I describe the sounds as a harmonic...but that might not be a good description. It definitely isn't a whine or grinding sound. I would imagine if you take two metal rods and butt them up to each other and spin them in opposite directions that would produce the sound you would hear; maybe not.

I try to listen for something at higher speeds, but I can't tell if I can hear anything or not between the sound of the engine and all the road noise. If it is making a sound, it definitely is a lot lot quieter than when I'm going real slow.

I'm also hesitant to say anything about my steering wheel as it might be a distracter. But when I'm cruising along, I notice that there is a small vibration...perhaps like when your wheels need an alignment maybe? I have had the plastic bushing replaced with a metal one...the plastic one that likes to break all the time. So I know the vibration isn't from that. In fact, not even sure if the steering wheel issue is new...might be paranoia.

Anyway, just looking for some advice. Any idea where I should start looking?

Car is an 87 coupe non-turbo. Has one of those bar connecting the two shocks together in the trunk. I replace bilstein shocks about two year ago.

[Tigerrat]

If it sounds like a squeak and is only over bumps, driveways and such, I'd say torsion bar is rubbing in the control arm. Time for new bushings.

[Kaliv]

Definately not a squeak...and this is running on a smooth surface...no bumps. I guess it would be more like a hum...perhaps. Not exactly sure how to describe it.

[Netspeed]

If it only happens when you're driving then it has to be something rotational and if it seems to go away by turn left or right, I'd lean towards something in the wheel bearing/brake area. I'd also remove (if it's easy) the strut bar in the front. That way, you absolutely know that nothing non-factory might be affecting it. It might be a stretch but the bar might be causing some undue load in the front somewhere. Like I said....it's a stretch.

[Flieger]

Sounds like a wheel bearing starting to talk to you. It is saying "check me for wear and replace if needed"

I think the procedure is to put the car on jack stands, grab the wheel at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock and try to rock the wheel towards/away from you. If you get a lot of movement, the wheel bearing is either improperly torqued (loose) or worn.

The flip side would be that if the castle nut is over-tightened this could also cause the bearing to make noise, heat up, and fail.

[buttjoint]

I had a noise when makeing a turn at speed that bothered me for the longest time. I kept adjusting the wheel bearings and repacking them. I noticed that when I stopped, The car did not roll very far after letting off the breaks. Bigger than poop the right caliper was not letting the pistons retrack and the pads were draging. This baffled me for months. Nice to finely find it,

[teenerted1]

when you are jacking up the car to check for the wheel bearing will be an easy time to check to see if you have a caliper hanging up too.

[Kaliv]

Ok...jacked up the car to check things out. Nothing looked abnormally rubbed. The righttire did move a little...but not sure if it's awful for new wheel bearings. Left wheel was stock solid.

However, the left wheel didn't seem to spin for a long time...looked like perhaps the brakes are rubbing it a bit. Odd that it wasn't noted when I got the back pads and rotors replaced last week. I was going to do front pads, but they said they weren't needed.

Also, air pressure in the right wheel was low...so I pumped it up.

Any easy fixes to get the brake to stop lightly touching? Not sure if that is an additional problem or the real problem though.

[Flieger]

Pull out the pads and gently push the brake pedal down so that the pistons extend just a little but farther than their normal operating range. Push them back in with a wedge of some kind- wood wedge, screwdriver with a shop towel, c-clamp, etc. Repeat this exercising procedure several times. Sometimes this will clean up the corrosion that is causing the pistons to stick. Other than this, you can clean the calipers and put a little Lithum grease on the guide pins.

If this does not work, a caliper rebuild is in order. (Not the worst job in the world)

[Flieger]

Oh, put your pads back in before you go for a test drive.