Not sure if this would be in the suspension/or wheel section so it is going here.

Recently i put my rotiforms on the car and as per usual there was no problems. I have put many sets of wheels on the car as most of you know and most are even more aggressive than these.

On the drive home from my buddies i noticed a weird noise coming from the front pass. side. It is like a metal on metal grinding noise. Doesn't seem to stop when i turn one way or another, but always is happening when i instantly start moving. Also, today while on the way into work i noticed a weird smell (smells are never a good thing in my experience)

Is this a bad wheel bearing? I have never had one go bad on any of my past cars so i am not really sure what i am hearing here.

For reference it's a 2007 tc with 89k on it. Halp! I want to figure out what this could be before it gets worse.

 

i've had 2 wheel bearings go bad on me on my tc and it didn't sound like what you are hearing. when my went bad it was a loud "womwomwom" sound and gets louder as i went faster.

did you check your brake dust shield to see if it was rubbing on your rotors? work on the suspension of the car lately?

 

haven't touched the coils in a while all i did was take my winter wheels off and put the rotiforms on. From talking to my buddy who is a mechanic he seems to think it is a wheel bearing for sure. It sounds sketchy as fuuuuck lol

no noise until about 15 mph and then gets louder as i go faster.

 

hrmm that is weird that you get a metal to metal sound. but def get that wheel bearing changed ASAP!

GL!

 

thanks man, i am going to try and get in there monday or wednesday. We will see. i will know tomorrow.

 

This sounds like a bad wheel bearing after months and months of being bad and after it completely fell apart inside. It doesn't go from being fine to then having this noise. It's a slow progression and always will be. Plus they only really make a noise while turning in that direction. Irishguy, you are a super reputable guy on here and I hate to say this, but its not your bearing, its your dust shield. Bend it back and the noise will go away.

 

I will check it out tomorrow morning and make sure that isn't the case. Thanks man, and ya, i have been on here a while and try to spread my knowledge when i can, but this has me stumped for the most part.

I will update tomorrow.

 

sounds like a bad wheel bearing. One way to diagnose it is to jack up the car so that wheel/tire is off the ground. Grab the tire at 3 and 9 o'clock and shake it (not vigorously). there will be play/looseness if the bearing is bad.

in most cases a bad wheel bearing results in noise, vibration, and slightly off alignment. in extreme (racing) cases the wheel can fall off. my friend had a 89 240SX with 185K miles on the original (bad) wheel bearings. my mom put 215K miles on her old Accord with the original bad bearings. no biggie.

 

Ya, just an annoying sound lol. It's supposed to be nice tomorrow, hopefully i can check it out