I have 89 camaro RS 5.0 that I am having a very annoying noise from. it started off with just a metal to metal rattle/tap. when I hit small bumps and rough road you would hear it. Now added to it is a rubbing/grinding noise.

You usually here it upon initial acceleration, forward or reverse. You mostly hear it though in sync to the tapping sound. Once I am moving 40+ it becomes hard to hear.

Oh and importantly, it sounds to comes from the right front, or so I thought. Now I'm almost thinking it is in the middle. Possibly the.... trans crossmember/torque arm?

I shook down the front end, greased every zerk, looked for any loose bolts or other worn parts. Only thing I see is that little bumper on my control arm that the sway bar hits is loose, though I don't see that giving me both these sounds.

I was thinking it might be my brake pads, as I found that they move around while the brakes are not applied, but then I noticed that both sides move around so I am not sure on that anymore, though what lead me to the brakes was the fact the tapping generally stops when I apply the brakes. So... any ideas? Figured I'd ask before I replaced my control arm bushings, struts, springs, etc etc.


Another thing... my caster on the r/f can't get positive enough. it appears to be maxed out and it is still .5 to 1 degree short. anyone ever have a caster issue? Causes me a terrible road crown pull...

 

I'd check your flex plate. I had the tick, got under there and rotated everything to check, and saw that my flex plate was cracked all the way around.