Hey guys, I've hit a dead end with this rotational screeching sound my car is currently experiencing, and has been on and off for awhile. I need some prompt suggestions/advice. Please look at my other threads if you are unsure of what's been replaced already, which is pretty much everything.

Now, it's making a metallic 'screech/chirp' sound with every rotation of the front left wheel, and on the way to work today, sounded like the passenger side front wheel as well. It is not consistent, it will increase/decrease in velocity depending on the vehcile's speed. I've noticed if I sway to the right, it will get louder, but still remain even when swaying left.

The biggest thing that has me stumped about this problem is the fact that it is intermittent. It does NOT happen all the time. Some days I will go without hearing it at all, some days I may hear it faint, others I can't even have the windows open because I am infuriated with the fact my car sounds like it has a birds nest in the front echoing off everything as I drive. It's embarrassing as hell, and quite frankly, the most annoying problem I've delt with. It really doesn't make sense to me. It seems it can be brought on by certain driving circumstances, say if I have to brake really hard once, I might drive off and start to hear the noise. It does not go away with acceleration, or braking. But it WILL go away whenever it damn pleases, I know I'll get Into my car later and start driving only to find the noise has dissipated, although I did hear it again as I pulled into my subdivision last night.

I've tried bending the ball joint dust shield away from the rotor, it did look like it was bent in a bit too much. I made sure there was clearance between the rotor and the shield. But again, here I am with the same noise. Pad shims and guide pins have all been replaced, relubed all nessecary parts, as well as pads themselves. I am running duralast gold CMAX pads. Rotors I replaced last March with aftermarket drilled/slotted ones. There is nothing obvious when everything is apart as to what could be causing this noise, I just did a bunch of work, you'd think something this bad would be obvious. But it isn't.

Up until now I'm convinced it has to be something relating to the front brakes, but if you guys have any ideas on where to look/what to look for, please let me know as soon as possible. It pains me to have spent all this money making this car ride so nice, but yet have to deal with such a stupid, petty problem. Thanks all.

 

First I had similar problems, I completely removed that stupid dust shield and it was most of the problems. I did the brakes umteen times swapping parts and it wasn't until Spawne suggested Carlson brake hardware and I swapped it all out that my noise went away. I had lots of ceramic pads that made noise, totally aggravating. Using EBC yellow now and has eyeball stopping power with no noise and surprising very little dust. Not sure if your problem is actually brake related , but start there. Good luck, post back your findings.

 

These ****** things.

 

Yup, those blasted wastes of metal. How much do they really 'protect' the ball joint, anyway?? Seems more like its a source of noise than anything, especially being old and rusty. You think even with me bending them back out, that would still render me with a noise caused by them? Looking at the caliper bracket w/ pads installed only, and I'm not sure, but I did notice the clearance between the caliper bracket w/ the shim installed and the rotor was a little bit on the thin side, but I have no way of knowing what the clearance should be. I find it hard to believe that my bracket would be off to the point of the shim running on the rotor. Hmph.

When I get home tonight, I'm going to raise the car up, take both front wheels off, and see if I can hear/see anything with the car either in neutral or in gear with the hub spinning. I'll probably shave off those dust shield pieces with my handy dandy angle grinder just as you have. Believe it or not, all the hardware (shims/pins) I bought off rock was the Carlson brand name, so I lucked out there. I'll have to look into those EBC yellow pads, although I find it hard to believe the pads themselves are causing this particular noise. Wouldn't be the first surprise I've had, though. Thanks for your input.

 

Sounds like a problem I'm having with my envoy, the metal shims that the shoes slide on which crosses the across the rotor was actually rubbing on it. Not sure why there so close , maybe the bracket has bent slightly .

I just took some adjustable pliers (with the caliper removed) and bent the metal clip back.

 

The caliper bracket itself being bent/not seated properly was my first thought, but how in the hell would that happen? If it was getting that hot to cause that kind of damage, the bracket would be the least of your concerns. In addition, obviously if the caliper bracket was loose, that'd be pretty obvious too. It just doesn't make any sense to me. Plus, since the noise is intermittent, whatever the problem is isn't an issue all of the time. I cannot fathom that the caliper bracket would be moving around in there to at all, let alone enough to allow the shims to make contact with the rotor.

The metal pad shims on mine sit flush against the bracket where it crosses the rotor, but still appear, to me, to be too close to it. I figured once it was back together and loaded, it would all fall into place and it wouldn't be a concern.. As I said, I will be tearing into it when I'm home, and I will report my findings. I feel like it has to be something ridiculously stupid. Just wish I would have caught it when I had the whole thing apart a week ago.

 

I had a similar issue upon start up sometimes. It seemed to come from the front of the engine. It turned out to be the starter bendix not fully retracting every time. Luckily I caught it early before it could damage the flywheel

 

On the brackets(that hold the caliper) mine aren't loose but I believe they are bent inboard as the brake pads don't fit in cleanly anymore. I have to grind the ends of the pads to allow them to slide freely.

The metal clip that hold them and allow them to slide has an angelled part that sticks up and this is what rubs the rotor.