Murphg05

Got a new possible problem arising over the last few hundred miles.... When driving I can hear a distinct metal rubbing sound. To describe it as best as possible... ( if you are doing a brake job, and you spin the rotor by hand - the sound that you hear when the pad rubs on the rotor, metalic rubbing sound ). BUT, this sound is constant and rises and falls with wheel speed. It is not affected by clutch in or out, brakes on or off, or RPM. I gave the underside the eyeball exam and nothing looks out of place... Any ideas of a good place to start tearing into on this one?

AZ-S2000

Try to isolate the noise. Jack up each wheel and spin the wheel and see if its a noise from one of the wheels. Are your brake pads low? Wheel bearing? Lift the rear end up from the differential, put jack stands on either side, and put it in gear and listen for the noise. This is how I isolated my noise and turned out to be a wheel bearing.

Here is my noise, just recent, does it sound like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9WJA7p2anM

Murphg05

Ok, I'll give that a try and see if I can narrow down a location. No, mine doesn't sound like the video you have. Mine is more of a high pitched metallic scraping sound. I had the rotors re-surfaced and pads done 6 months ago, so not thinking it is that. Plus, when I hit the brakes or let off the sound remains the same. It's hard to tell when driving where the sound is coming from, just kinda sounds like it is everywhere.

AZ-S2000

Once in rear is up in the air, you can get underneath and listen for the noise to isolate where its coming from. I hate sounds that are really hard to find.

toniotran

I had the same type of issue and in my case it was the wheel bearing/hub.

slalom44

Does it get louder or change pitch when cornering or taking a highway exit/entrance ramp? Do you feel any differfence in the temperature of any particular wheel after a long drive? These are signs of a bad bearing, but it doesn't rule out a brake problem.

Murphg05

No, pitch only changes with speed. I've checked the temp on rotors to see if any seemed hotter than others, but nothing out of the ordinary. I tried lifting the rear end this weekend and spinning wheels, but unable to pinpoint the sound. It seems like the sound kicks in at about 30 mph. Dumbfounded at this point. Ready to just drive and see what eventually takes a sh*t on me!

EagleDon

2 cents:

Wonder if you depress the clutch while driving, that the sound disappears or remains constant?

If it goes away when you depress the clutch, it may be the throw out (clutch release) bearing.

Murphg05

thought that myself... but nope. The sound is not affected at all by brakes, or clutch. It definitely follows wheel speed. Car goes faster, sound gets higher pitched and slightly louder. As car slows down, sound mellows. Tried putting the car at freeway speed and applying clutch, brakes, RPM, etc. Sound follows wheel speed for sure. Even put car into neutral at freeway speed and the sound persisted. I'm not too familiar with the driveline on the S, so not aware of any common problems. Guess I'll start pulling stuff apart again to see if anything looks funny.

hydralover

My guess would be wheel bearing. Had the same issue a few years ago.