squeaky car

[WingWizard]

Okay, so my car makes this weird squeaking sound at a fast rate; almost as if something is squeaking while it's rotating. Interesting thing is, it only happens when I turn left! If i'm driving straight, but only til my steering wheel SLIGHTLY to the left, the squeaking begins, but it goes away if I brake or if I turn right. It drives fine; I've noticed no performance difference whatsoever. Any ideas?

I

[osprey4]

The CarTalk guys would get this but you'd enjoy the answer a lot more.

Anyhoo, it certainly sounds for all the world like a wheel bearing to me.

[Siliconjunkie]

Agreed, wheel bearings do things like that due to changes in loading amount/direction when you turn/brake. I have also seen brakes do this, but its not very common.

[WingWizard]

So...are wheel bearings important? How do I fix it?

[MD1032]

"Awwwww man, you've got to be kidding!!" "No, I'm not. I'd say that the steering is definitely important" Off to the mechanic for you!

[osprey4]

Originally posted by WingWizard
So...are wheel bearings important?

Not until they start to squeak.

Seriously, you don't want to mess with this. Have your mechanic check them and replace if necessary. They may suggest you replace bearings on the other wheels depending on your mileage (over 100,000 mi).

By the way, Cartalk has some car sounds online here:
http://cartalk.cars.com/About/Carsounds/index.html

You can listen to a bad bearing (if you have RealPlayer).

[cracked]

it could also be your power steering pump i think, maybe not. it was a good guess though...

drew

[Chuckiechan]

It could also be your warning "squeakers" that are on your disk brake pads, alerting you to the fact that it is time to change them.

(assuming you have disk breakes)

Pull off the front wheel and look at the pads and see if there is a metal thing dragging or rubbing on the rotor. If that is it, pry them back so they don't touch and plan on a brake job asap.

Be sure to put your car on a jack stand!

[RedFury]

Most likely it is due to a wheel bearing wearing out like Osprey pointed out.

I've got a little experience with doing wheel bearings myself, as I've replace the same ones on the same wheel 2x in one year. Overtightened the first set, wore out faster then I could buy new ones. Put them on to SPEC and now I've got a smooth rolling wheel.

Here's the deal with Wheel Bearings. You have an outer and inner bearing, and a seal on top of the inner bearing.

Anytime you replace wheel bearings, you have to replace the RACE, which is the beveled hardened steel the bearings ride on-not always an easy task to do * usually best left to a shop that can handle it ( some auto parts stores can do this for you. )

At any rate, jack the wheel you suspect off the ground, and grab hold of the wheel and try tilting it in all directions and see if you can feel any slack....there shouldn't be ANY. If you do have slack, then the wheel bearing is failing in most cases. The squeek could very well be the wear indicator on the brake shoe because the rotor will tilt with the wheel within the brake assembly ( disc brakes ).

A real quick fix ( note* temporary at best ), would be to pull the bearing cap off ( the cap in the very center of your wheel lugs ), and remove the cotter pin, tighten the nut just enough to stop the movement, put the cotter pin back on, bearing cap on, tire back on and give it a test drive. If you squeek went away, you need to get that bearing replaced pretty soon. If it runs bad too long, it will burn out the grease, destroy the bearing, and if you are very unlucky, the wheel and hub may go rolling down the street as you send a flurry of sparks out from underneath your car ( being as you no longer have a wheel there anymore! )

So, it's not something absolutely urgent to repair, but not something to ignore until it finally fails. In this case, an ounce of prevention is definetely worth more than a pound of cure.

[wju425]

"At any rate, jack the wheel you suspect off the ground, and grab hold of the wheel and try tilting it in all directions and see if you can feel any slack....there shouldn't be ANY."

This is what you should do first of all. Any slack at all means repair time whether it be wheel bearings, tie rod ends, ball joints, a-frame bushings, etc. The rotor cannot shift and hit the wear indicator unless the pads are that worn.

\o/ Billy