Squeel/Squeak/Grinding Noise - Front End of car

[philthy]

Adam at va garage in southport or Jmac in Brisbane are both highly recommended independent vw specialists

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[sambb]

yeah a wheel bearing will generally whir/drone in normal driving and it will be made worse when that wheel is on the outside through a corner. Doesn't mean it can't be something else or that a few things are at play simultaneously but wheel bearing would be my guess if its the outside wheel.

[louis19]

Update:

Now the squeal is coming from Both front wheels and it's constant when driving straight or turning but goes away when applying any brake. I jumped under the car to have a look at the brake pads and I've attached them here to check if they are due for replacment (down to the squeelers) but from my knowledge they still have plenty of life left? The pictures arent the best but access was limited. I do drive the car pretty hard with heavy braking on weekends when driving in the mountains etc if that's any help.

I have a feeling it's a calliper issue not releasing the pad fully. I understand the pads should touch the discs when the brakes aren't on but when my car is jacked up the pads still have resistance. To the point where I can't get the wheel to spin more then 1/4 of a turn and have a fair bit of resistance.

I'm going to get it checked out by a mechanic but is this a good starting point that could indicate the issue?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, don't have great knowledge in this area.

[louis19]

Update: Mechanics looked at it today, took brake pads out, took the lip off of them, took out caliper slider pins, cleaned and regreased them, greased where the pads sit in the calipers and made sure nothing was sitting or hitting on the discs.

However the noise persists unfortunately. What would be the next plan of attack? Machine the discs? The discs do both have a lip but brake pads still have plenty of meat on them.

[h100vw]

Update: Mechanics looked at it today, took brake pads out, took the lip off of them, took out caliper slider pins, cleaned and regreased them, greased where the pads sit in the calipers and made sure nothing was sitting or hitting on the discs.

However the noise persists unfortunately. What would be the next plan of attack? Machine the discs? The discs do both have a lip but brake pads still have plenty of meat on them.

I say don't mess about paying to have the discs machined, it'll reduce the life of them and likely make no difference. Once the pads are past half worn, you might as well chuck them out. IMO

I find it strange that a mechanic is struggling to identify the problem....... And still taking your money.

Gavin

[louis19]

The mechanic only charged $40 to do what I mentioned above so I wasn't overly stressed about it. If the bill was more I would have said something. He was wanting me to take it for a few days to see if it made any difference before moving on to something else that could be more costly if the problem persists, which it has
unfortunately. It still to me sounds like something dragging or touching metal on metal.

Was thinking Possibly a bearing but doesn't drone at speed or on the highway and goes away under any braking (even very slight braking) and is intermittent at times (might not do it for a few Kms, then sometimes only very quietly, then sometimes louder)

Definitely has me scratching my head....

PS GAV YOUR INBOX IS FULL!

[Hilal]

If you want to check the bearing, lift up the car, put your hand at 12 oclock and at 6 oclock and shake it, if there is play, then you have a shot bearing, if there is no play then its all good.

Regarding the brake disk, you know there is two sides to the disk, you have only provided 1 side, also brake pads may have uneven wear from caliper failures so it would be good to provide 4 pictures of the front for each side of the car.

Front end squeaking can also be caused by the control arm bush, I had this issue because my bush wasn't pressed in properly, can also happen if your bush is worn out, grease provides a temporary fix but eventually comes back when the grease wears off in a few days.

Regarding the noise at idle, does it go away if you press the clutch pedal? If the noise goes away, then this is a sign of input shaft bearing failure and will need to be rebuilt or replaced, one of my previous cars had a squeaking issues when taking off it would go away when breaking because this was putting pressure on the bearing then i finally found out it was actually the gearbox and had the entire unit replaced.

If the whine happens when you press the clutch, then its your clutch release bearing.

Another thing, it could be your belt, put a little bit of vaseline under the belt, this will shut the belt up temporary but will still need to be replaced, its a good way to find out if this is your problem.

[louis19]

Was the inner lip of the discs dragging on the inner of the brake pads. Discs were due for replacment so Gav swapped them for new ones and upgraded the pads at the same time. No worries so far, touch wood!!

[kaanage]

The squeal/grind/squeak noises from my front brakes have been greatly reduced after yesterday's track outings