Help - Bad wheel bearing or something else?

[TXeverydayDad]

I just had my first start yesterday. It was successful, but I have a strange metal-on-metal sound coming from the left rear wheel area. It's intermittent. It sounds like it's coming from the wheel hub, and when I remove the wheel, the sound doesn't appear. However, with the wheel on, whether it's in forward or reverse, the intermittent sound comes back. I can hear it when the car is driven as well. I captured it on video. Could it be a bad wheel bearing? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions.


https://youtube.com/shorts/nEVXkmlk9Zs

Thanks!
Sam

[gbranham]

I don't hear much of anything, but assuming your brake line isn't rubbing on the wheel, go drive it a bit and try to bed the brakes. Might just be as simple as getting the brakes bedded...

Greg

[TXeverydayDad]

Thanks Greg! The main ‘ticks’ can be heard at around the 10s and 27s marks in the video. No visible rubbing or contact anywhere that I’ve found yet.

[Redstang69]

I'm not very familiar with the IRS, but if you had a solid axle I'd say check that your backing plate isn't rubbing on your rotor in a spot or two. I've had this happen in vehicles, esp the rears.

[Its Bruce]

Are you sure it's not the coating coming off the brand new rotor? Is the rotor shiny yet?

[TXeverydayDad]

I'm not very familiar with the IRS, but if you had a solid axle I'd say check that your backing plate isn't rubbing on your rotor in a spot or two. I've had this happen in vehicles, esp the rears.

Thanks for the suggestion. I don’t have any backing plates on the IRS. If anything is rubbing, I’d expect the sound to be regular. As it is now, it’s random/irregular.

[TXeverydayDad]

Are you sure it's not the coating coming off the brand new rotor? Is the rotor shiny yet?

That could be. The rotors are still coated, not shiny. It’s quite a distinct tick or ping sound, whereas I would expect the coating coming off to be more of a scraping sound. But this is the first time I’ve put coated rotors on a vehicle so don’t know.

[michael everson]

Make sure your wheel weights aren't hitting the caliper. I also had an issue with the Wilwood caliper hitting the circumference of the rotor. Couple of shims on the studs of the caliper fixed it. Turn the wheel by hand and see if you can feel it.
Mike

[TXeverydayDad]

Make sure your wheel weights aren't hitting the caliper. I also had an issue with the Wilwood caliper hitting the circumference of the rotor. Couple of shims on the studs of the caliper fixed it. Turn the wheel by hand and see if you can feel it.
Mike

Thanks Mike. I’ve specifically checked the wheel weights hitting the caliper since my brother had that issue just a few weeks ago on one of his vehicles, so it’s not that. I’ll check the caliper for interaction with the rotor. When I was troubleshooting on Saturday I didn’t feel or hear anything when there was no weight on the hub (ie tire removed) which is why I suspect something with the bearing. I’ll troubleshoot some more tonight and post any developments.

I appreciate all thoughts and input!
Sam

[michael everson]

put the lugs back on and tighten without the wheel.
Mike

[Papa]

Looking at the Wilwood parking brake pads on my car, the are pretty loose on the pins they slide on. Perhaps you could try applying a click or two on the e-brake handle and see if the clicking noise stops.

[TXeverydayDad]

Looking at the Wilwood parking brake pads on my car, the are pretty loose on the pins they slide on. Perhaps you could try applying a click or two on the e-brake handle and see if the clicking noise stops.

Thanks Papa. This could be it. The pads move slightly on the pins and the sound of them hitting the pins is similar to what I heard while driving. I’ll try a click or two on the handbrake to see if it makes a difference next time I have the car outside.

Thanks everyone for the help in troubleshooting this!