***Warning Long story, please bear with me ***

Hi everyone, I have some break/suspension/wheel bearing problems.

So I have a 98 6sp Z28 with 120k on it. I've been dumb enough to drive on 3 wheel studs for a while, and bad shocks/truts which make the car really bouncy, anyway fast forward.

So 2 weeks ago on the highway I started getting these loud inside the wheel loud noises, it sounded VERY VERY familiar to my dad's Buick Century that needs to get it's Wheel Bearings fixed. So that was one guess I had, and it was a good one in my opinion.

I had a mobile mechanic come to my house and drive it in my neighborhood and he guessed the wheel studs, tie rod ends(they were torn) and while I'm at it, my very low break pads. So I received the parts that I ordered online.

I get ANOTHER mechanic(not the same guy as diagnosed the problem) to install the parts for me, but couldn't get one of my wheel studs out, it was really stuck on there, so he was gonna come back with tools later that day ect. He also installed the breaks and the tie rod ends

So he did all this stuff while I was at work, and my dad as at home watching him. So I get home at 2 from work and he is gone because to get tools and give his gf a ride to work ect. And I take the car out for a quick spin in the neighborhood to see if I feel any improvements.

So right off the bat I notice something weird in my driveway.

The car doesn't move AT all on my slanted driveway, which is SUPER weird! Like if you have no E-Break on and my driveway has a tiny slant, my car wasn't rolling, that was one, it's not a huge slant or anything, but always DOES roll without any break, number two, the car when I put it in first gear and starting to roll/move with it, it has a sensation that it's coming out of a tiny pot hole, meaning I feel like there is a tiny bit of struggle/effort of the car starting to move, as if it's front wheels its resting in a pot hole and doing a tiny bit of a climbing out, I don't know if that description makes since, just has a bit of and effort.
OK so that's the first things I notice

Then I take out of the driveway, immediately I notice that I don't feel comfortable even taking it above 10mph, it feels as if it's been worse, feel the wheels rotation, it's loud, it's definitely NOT JUST THE WHEEL STUDS anymore. and there I go do a U-turn in a round-about in my neighborhood in a very low speed, and my I go turn left and doing it super slowly, and I really feel the tire rotation, as if it's a slow motion and can hear it, also considerable amount of tunnel noise just like my Dad's Buick century. So it definitely feels like my dad's wheel bearing, but after his installation it feels odd because I can't drive it up to 30ish more like 10ish.

I have a good confident feeling that the Wheel Hub/Bearing definitely needs to be replaced judging by the noises so similar to my dad and how it gets louder while turning towards left. BUT CANT POINT MY FINGER TO WHAT MADE IT WORSE AFTER THE WHEEL STUDS/TIE ROD ENDS/BREAKS INSTALLS

And finally, any explanations for the not rolling down the slant of my driveway?

Thanks to everyone in advance, I'm just super stuck right now and when my car feels ill, specially from something you don't know, and how much ect. You feel really uncomfortable. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks

 

diagnosing a wheel bearing by it getting louder when turning so the weight of the car on that side increases volume is a good rule of thumb.
to be sure just jack the car up and spin the wheel in question, it feel gritty like sand is in there? yup confirmed wheel bearing.
hesitation "mini pothole" makes sense on one thats really gone. You want a guess as to why it got worse? doing tierod ends without alignment tools (in a driveway) usually throws off alignment, so that + gonzo bearing = extra resistance feel.
driving on 3 lugs is a safety concern and likely to cause damage to the wheel, as for being relevant to the bearing issue i cant see why.
thats my .02

 

if you suspect the wheel bearing and you had multiple studs gone from that hub you should just replace the whole hub assembly which gives you all new lug studs and the wheel bearing and can be installed with basic hand tools, the money you would save in NOT paying a mechanic to do things this easy to do would cover most of the cost of the parts.

 

if he replaced the brakes pads ect. I bet the slides on the front/ rear calipers are possibly seized or sticking .. that will cause the brakes to grab all the time hence why it doesn't roll freely...

 

If its not rolling freely then it probably has something to do with the brakes, especially since they were just changed. Do you have a jack at the house? If so, jack the rear up and put the car in neutral. Try to turn the wheels forward or backward and see if there is any major resistance. Try this with each side on the front also. It will let you know if one of the brakes is hanging or not. It might be the ebrake not adjusted properly.

 

I'm curious why you didn't just consult your mechanics with these problems. You paid them right? I can't imagine anyone doing work on the four corners of a car and not taking it for a test drive afterwards.


Did they change the rotors?

 

I do recall that before the installation the mechanic saying something like you'll need an alignment after the tie-rod change, so what your saying definitely rings a bell.

And maybe that the breaks are always grabbing on... :/

Any other guesses anyone can brainstorm?

Thanks a bunch to everyone already, I do feel like the alignment job needs to be done, along with the wheel hub assembly as well asap.

Any other guesses for the break?

And the mechanic was gonna come back in a few hours, but I told him not to since the car felt worse, and felt like i needed to change the whole hub versus just the studs.

But yea I'll call him

 

Brake dragging can be caused by:

1) seized up slide pins
2) stuck caliper
3) bad hose to the caliper

On my old 98 I had my front driver side dragging. Not as bad as what this sounds like, but enough that it was dusting horribly and getting the wheel hotter than the others. I regreased the slide pins and replaced the caliper first, which didn't fix it. When I finally replaced the hose the issues went away.

I'm not sure why the studs even came into this - studs aren't going to make the wheel hard to spin or make noise. They either are on there holding the wheel to the hub, or they break off and the wheel falls off lol. They don't create noise.

Also, an alignment will not affect the brakes. Your alignment could be all out of whack, but the brakes won't care. Still get it aligned after figuring out the wheel/brake issue though.

So here's what I'd do:

1) Jack it up and try to spin the wheel by hand. Is it really hard to do? If yes, proceed.

2) Pull the wheel, then pull the caliper. Does the hub spin OK now? If yes, does it feel smooth when spinning or rough like there is grit in it? If it doesn't spin easily by hand, or feels really rough and gritty, replace the hub.

3) Check the slide pins. Do they slide in and out easily or do they stick? If they stick or don't move at all, remove the bracket, pull the pins (if they are seized it could take some force to do), clean out the bracket, clean up the pins (replace if necessary), regrease, and reinstall with new boots.

4) Push the pistons back in the caliper with a C clamp. Using an old pad helps. It shouldn't take a lot of force to push them in. If one doesn't push back in but the other does, replace or rebuild the caliper. If both don't want to budge, try cracking the bleeder. If they move OK then, I'd suspect the hose.

 

Ok I'm now leaning towards screwing all these mechanics and attempt to do this checking everything myself.

The wheel hub assembly/bearing I'm sure about it, but the break thing is what I'm going to first find out, so I'll need you guys help please:

I attached a picture of the break assembly of a YouTube video of our cars breakpads being changed(lsxtv). So my question is, from that picture cans somebody point out the Caliper Pins for me please.


Also found a VERY useful video of my problem which Imma attempt to fix myself.

So can you somebody fast forward to 54seconds and confirm if this is what I'm attempting to fix, Please

Thanks to everyone in advance.

 

Yes, that's exactly what you need to check first.

 

The pins are what the caliper bolts to. They slide into the bracket. They look like this.

 

Ok here's a SUPER NEWBIE Question lol

If I jack the car up and attempt to spin the wheel first then attempt to spin the hub(after taking off the wheel), all this has to be done while car is in neutral, correct? Just gears neutral? Or the E-break not engaged ether? So while the car is jacked up, put down the ebrake? Or just have the ebrake down to begin with?

Thanks for bearing with me, I know these are pretty silly beginner questions lol Appreciate all the help already though, thanks all

 

You should jack the wheel and for testing the rear, you should have the parking brake off and the car in neutral.

When you do this, be sure to block the front wheels so the car doesn't move while you have it jacked up!

Even properly functioning brakes will grab the wheel and make it hard to spin while the wheel is off the ground. You may need to spread the pads to get the wheel to spin.

That being said, they should not grab so bad that they hold the car on an incline. Did you change the rear rotors? If so, the parking brake needs to be adjusted to the new ones. (This is an uncommon proceedure required for the fourth Gen car.)

 

No the front pair of pads were what were changed.

I'll definitely block the rear tires, let the ebrake down and put it in neutral, and see where I stand from there.

So far I'm crossing my fingers that it'll be the pins, because those seem relatively newb proof as far as getting to them and being straight forward(seems like it anyway) and there are lot of YouTube videos fortunately to refer to for this job.

Everyone just cross your fingers that it's only the caliber pins and the wheel hub assembly. Figuring out the problem/the unknown is the most scary part

 

Anybody can confirm if the boot/caliber pin look similar to that video I posted?

Please and thank you

 

dude, only the wheels that drive the car (rear wheels on this car) require the parking brake (not break) to be disengaged and the trans in neutral to spin, the front wheels are free spinning unless the regular brakes are applied, take the wheel off you will see 2 bolts holding the caliper to the bracket, take those out and the caliper comes off exposing the brake pads for removal, then in the bracket where those 2 bolts you just unscrewed where there are what are called Slide Pins, pull them out and grease them up and reinstall. Make sure the piston on the caliper was pressed back in (you shouldn't have to fight the caliper back over the brake pads, thats a sign the piston wasn't pressed in), I have seen some mechanics just try to force the caliper onto the new pads because they are to lazy to press the piston in, this can cause the pads to sit at an angle and create a drag effect.