Okay, i've been trying to figure out this issue with my Mom's 99 GLE for the past 2 weeks and i'm stumped.

We've taken it to 4 different shops and they all say they aren't sure what the problem is but each give a different idea and none of them sound like they could fix the issue.

So here it is, there's a growling/whining/grinding/knocking/squeeling noise coming from the right front wheel that changes with speed. Normally this would be an easy thing to figure out as i'd expect to find something loose when in the air or be able to duplicate in a controlled environment but when it's lifted or stationary nobody can get it to duplicate and everything is tight.

We've gotten suggestions of rack and pinion, strut bearing, tie rod ends, lower control arm bushing, lower ball joint but the only thing I keep coming back to is the wheel bearing but they all say that's unlikely.

I took a short video for you to hear it yourself, at the time of the video it was making a bushing type sound but it changes every day so it's difficult for me to narrow it down to one thing.

http://s269.photobucket.com/albums/j...nt=Picture.flv

I'm looking forward to you guys being able to give me some suggestions on this as I'm totally lost on what this could be and not really interested at throwing parts at it until it goes away as parts are awfully expensive for these things.

Thanks everyone,
Kevin

 

Kind of sounds like the spring rubbing in the perch of the strut. Have you checked the plastic isolator piece that sits between the spring and perch of the spring on the strut?

 

Yeah, I kinda got tired of checking stuff and decided to suck it up and get under the car on a creeper while it was moving. I used a pry-bar and applied/removed pressure from everything I could think of while it was being moved forward and backward but wasn't able to make the sound change.

I put the pry-bar in the spring and pried down on it and the sound stayed the same. I can try spraying some PB on the isolator tomorrow though, i'm up for trying anything that doesn't cost her anything.

 

Axle? How many miles on the car?

 

i kinda hear moaning groaing coming from my wheel area too, but not as pronounced. I kno why u are concerned cuz these are FWD and torque the HELL out of the front suspension hehe. But man...its a used car and if its not broken down then u wont really be able to find it. All cars are fixable and these cars, as long as the engine and tranny still good, are definitely worth fixing. Believe me i love my maxi and anytime i hear anything a lil strange im at my mechanic, but he usually says its nothing to worry about.

It might just be a rusted area in or around that tire. But if driveability isnt really lost and a mechanic cant identify the problem then dont spend money till u really have to, when somethin actually breaks. good luck bro

 

wheel bearing?

 

Holy cow! Can't believe they can't find that in the shop. Does sound like it's a hub and bearing issue. This may sound stupid, but are the wheel lug nuts all tight?
That's def. not a spring or sturt issue. Axle's click when they go bad. The tone of that noise sort of points to a larger mass, hub area. Pull the brakes apart as well, check the torque member and caliper. Pull the rotor off, check the hub and bearings. Swap wheels from left to right, might have a crack in the aluminum rim.

I'm out of ideas, you really need to pull that side completely apart.

 

I was also thinkin it was the rims. If they are warped somehow then that might be the culprit. But usually a wheel bearing or rim issue is easy to diagnos

 

agree!

 

Interesting thought about the wheel, i'll give that a shot tomorrow when I see her.

I've been thinking bearing since the beginning but without the play coming from the hub I just can't be positive. I guess I could do the work myself, it's not like I don't know what i'm doing i'll just have to bring the hub to work to use the press here.

Thanks for the tips guys and i'll let you know what I find.

 

Since I can't stand reading threads just to have someone not post up the solution to the problem i'm gonna finish this one off.

Well I switched the wheels and that did absolutely nothing for the noise so I had my mom search for a shop that may have a clue as to what the problem is but none of them could give me a good answer so I decided that i'd just yank the passenger axle and replace that as it was the only thing that made any sense and had been replaced recently.

I popped the new one in and took her for a spin and what do ya know it's nice and quiet now.

Thanks for the advice everyone and I hope that if anyone has this issue with theirs that this thread will help them in some way.

Kevin