Ringing/rattle sound in front wheels?
(starting to get me nervous and get it fixed finally before I ruin or wreck & need more costly repairs)

I got this bad-sounding (and getting louder & worse)
in my old 114,000 '89 TA up around the fron wheels.

Maybe need new or repack wheel bearings?

Last time I had the GM dealer repack the bearings was
around 40000 miles. But about 1 year + ago (after I had
new brake pads put on both fronts (by GM dealer) - I started
hearing this like ringing/rattleing type noise when just rolling down the street.

I think it gets loud enough only after a few minutes of driving
- but not at first when just starting up in morning.
Seems especcially bad/loud when get on highway at 50-65 mph
and hear when go over bumps etc.

When I asked GM dealer about it - they said brake/pads/caliper
were ok and tight and said bearings (they never looked actually)
were ok (got feeling they wanted to just get rid of me at that point)...

Anyhow... My ideas: once wheels get rolling and heat starts to build up the bearings are maybe way bad or need grease or repacking and that makes the ringing/rattle noise .?...?


What is average charge by local gas station would be for either new front Bearings or just repacking them ??

Help someone... pls!
Thanks!

 

Does it sound like coins in your pocket?

If so, it's the sway bar end links.

Go get some poly ones at AutoZone, they're about $15 a set.

 

make sure the calipers still have the orings in them that go around the caliper bolts. if those get lost, the caliper bolts will rattle against the caliper.

 

There are O-rings around the caliber bolts?

 

yeah in the caliper itself where the bolts slide through, theres little grooves to put rubber orings in. well, at least on a 1990 with base brakes there are. dont know about different years or other brake options.

 

Interesting, I never noticed them before.

 

So not the wheel bearings?

Thanks - I will check the sway bar & caliper bolts.

But ya think it's not anything to do with wheel bearings?

Is it hard to get the caliper bolt off to check if there is still
some o-rings in there?
THANKS

 

It's not the wheel bearings. If the wheel bearings were so loose that they could rattle, it would be BEYOND IMPOSSIBLE to drive down the road in a straight line. Your wheel would be near falling off.

Calipers won't make a "ringing" sound, no matter what.

If the rubber bushing things are shot, they will tend to make a heavy, thick-sounding rattle kind of noise.... like a large cast-iron object banging around against another large cast-iron object.

But it's easy to takt the bolts out; they're the bolts you take out to change the pads. Which is also something that can rattle, if they are missing the little clip that goes on the back of the inboard pad (the one up against the piston), or if whoever put them on, didn't know to bend the tabs on the outboard pad to make it "grab" onto the caliper. I find that the stupid spooge they give you to put on the pads to keep them from rattling, is totally ineffective; but a couple of quick whaps with a BFH during assembly, is fool-proof (me-proof that is).

If it sounds like coins in your pocket, it's the sway-bar end links. Start there. Cheap, easy, and even if they're not the source of the noise, you need new ones anyway.

"The simplest explanation that fits all the facts is usually the right one".

 

How check sway bar ends?

I looked under my old 89 TA - how do ya "echeck" the sway bar ends ?
I tried to reach or touch things and nothing seems really loose (this is with car just sitting on ground - no jacked-up).

How/where do you check the sway bar ends? What/how should the feeel or look?
THanks

 

Get under there and look at them, and observe that the rubber piece is missing in at least one place out of the 4 that they belong on each end.

Then grab them and shake them and see if the noise you hear sounds familiar.

They are at the end of the sway bar. A good distance away from the keyboard I think.

 

I looked and checked both ends of sway bar - seems ok and tight.

But I hit/touch the drive shaft adn I can hear almost exact same type of high-pitch metal sound I hear when driving mostly over bumps.

Could it be the driveshaft making this sound ya think?
It is reallly tough to reach/ get to since it's deadcenter under middle of car. Passenger side is blocked by the exhaust pipe and the driver side is got a long piece of metal frame blocking/gettting to it.
(I'm on ground w/out jacking car up trying to see/reach it... car is sooo darn low to ground - can hardly get under it).
Thanks

 

The parking brake cable(s) could be touching the driveshaft.

 

That's what I was going to say. I had the same thing when I disconnected my rear parking brake (LS1 rear end). I finally tied the cable bracket out of the way and it no longer makes noise. It was annoying as hell though, let me tell ya. My rear brakes also make a squeaking noise because I have bent axles, and my front brakes make noise because I didn't mount the stainless steel braided brake lines to the struts, so the nut that's supposed to get bolted there makes a rattling noise. I'm too lazy to jack the car up and fix that problem thus far. I'll get to it this weekend when I hope to install my new headers. The rearend problems (including parking brake stuff) will get fixed as soon as I get my '94 parts car in (has a 3.73 rear with girdle )

 

Apeiron and Duronclocker -

You guys are the WINNERS... ya must be TA expert mechanics...

Y-day, I got bright idea to go my 'ace' gas station mechanic - get a $25 Grease & Oil change (neeeded it) & while up on lift - asked him to look at the Driveshaft... and I did tooo real quick...

There was about a 4inch long shiny-metal wearing spot along the middle part of the long Driveshaft...

It was the E-brake cable directly above that was hanging down on one side. The cable goes from one cable into a Y-split to go to L & R rear wheels... I think it is adjustable by a long bolt & nut setup... Well... one side had fallen out of the standard GM cutout in the metal on the above underbody where it is supposed to be clipped into the two cutouts which are there to keep/hold this Y connector for the Emergency brake cable up out of way.

I kinda figured it out first before "ace" - he says right off- oh ya got a bad cable and something about it stuck or the RR caliper having a problem... I said - wait- the E brake works good - it holds fine when in gear so - it works.
Then I see the cutout just above and snap it in.
Presto.... Fixed.

No more rattle or ringing sound going down road.
Great mechanic I have - (but he is good with other stuff - just always busting me & looking for some $$/work)
-------

Ya know what... I think (it's been about 1-2 years) been hearing it... i think... It all happened when I had GM dealer then do my rear brakes and replace pads.... They must have touch/moved this or forgot to put the E-brake cable back into its correct position while doing the rear brake job. Prob paid them $200+ for that.
I remember I went back about 2 more times right after & complained and they looked and could not fix the rattle/sound I heard.... And they didn't care too much either once the job was done and they got their $$$. Man... some of these mechanic suck and can mess things up more than they fix... not all... seems it's always comes down to individual.

This just goes to show ya again... guess it can be better if ya do the work 'yourself' & ya know what's being done under/inside there.

THANKS for all the HELP... Just want to spread word & hope others can learn from my problem too.
This forum/board is AWESOME!