IndyTim

Hello all,
I'm hoping you guys can give a little assistance. I have an intermittent noise? Vibration? Clicking? Clunking? I'm not sure how to describe it but it is dependent upon wheel speed. The faster the car is going the faster I get this kinda clicking sound from the left front wheel along with a bit of vibration that I pick up with my feet, from the floor. Of course, I put the car on jackstands and am unable to duplicate. The noise does not change with the application of brakes so I have been leaning towards the hub. There doesn't seem to be any play in the hub, is this typical? Is there a way if determining a bad front wheel hub? Thanks a lot.

1996 Coupe, LT1, A4

thedudeman321

If the hub is bad there will be play and/or you will feel roughness while spinning the wheel. If neither of these occur, I'd suspect something other than hub.

0Paul Ruggeri

If its the left hub/bearing it will get louder when you turn right. If its the right it will get louder when you turn left.

sailorsteve

Try swapping the front wheels and see if the noise changes. While you have the wheel off, look the brake disc over for cracks or any other unwanted feature. Could the disc be out of true?

shadowman1

A hub bearing can be making noise and not have any play in it. Loading up each side while driving you will be able to tell which side is bad.

IndyTim

Thanks for the responses.
There is no change in the noise when the wheel is turned and no play in the hub leading me away from the hub. I gave the disc rotor and the caliper a good looking over and found nothing there. I now wonder if I am being mislead by the location. Maybe it just sounds like the front left and is coming from somewhere else? Maybe a u-joint?

shadowman1

Get someone else to ride with you and help pinpoint where the noise is coming from. If it is dependent on wheel speed and is in the front it has to be wheel hub or brake related. If you put it in neutral and coast is the noise still there? U-joints can make a clicking sound or a groaning or grinding sound. A passenger can lean over the back seat and see if it's louder in the rear. Drive it in a parking lot with someone outside the car to listen and see if they can hear it.

HlhnEast

My Vette shop has a machine that will spin the tires up to speed while its on the lift. Call around, maybe you can find one that has it.

coupeguy2001

pull the wheel, and check the back of the wheel for cracks I had a cracked wheel that every time I pulled a wheel and looked for malfunctions, it was sitting behind me encased in a tire, and that was the reason I couldn't find anything wrong with the car. It wasn't the car!

IndyTim

This is an old one but I know you guys like to see a resolution.
The more I heard this noise, the less convinced I was that it was coming from the front. So, I took a look at the half-shaft u-joints and found a couple that looked like they were on the way out. So, I replaced all 4 half-shaft u-joints and the teflon washers and that seems to have done the trick.