When I drive off from cold, no noise. Then after a couple miles, I get this grinding or rubbing noise from the left front that comes and goes in time with wheel rotation. I've replaced the halfshaft, and the brake pads and rotors were replaced recently, and look fine. The wheel bearing has no play. Any ideas?

 

Are you sure?

 

Try jacking it up and spinning the wheel by hand. That should help narrow the focus.

Is the caliper sticking? Did you grease the slide pins? Is the brake shield slightly bent somewhere?

 

Are they really cheap brake pads?

 

If I spin the wheel by hand, no noise. Then I started the engine, put it in gear. No noise. The noise seems to come only after a few minutes of driving, and under load. It gets louder when turning right under load, little or none turning left. And I sometimes hear it driving straight, even slowly into a driveway after I've been out driving. As I drive slowly along the driveway, it sounded like two pieces of rubber scraping on and off as the wheel rotates.

Didn't grease the caliper slider pins but they slid smoothly, and the boots were intact. Checked the brake shield, and it's fine.

 

They're Napa pads.

 

Are your brake pad shims touching anything?

 

Is your rack and pinion leaking from connection by steering wheel by the firewall?

 

Sounds like you have a bad hub and wheel bearing. My 97 did this twice and it always ended up being those parts wearing out.

 

Wheel bearing. Looks like your driver's side is worse than passenger's currently.

 

Right on the money!

 

Sounds like a game of Jeopardy!

 

Hub and bearing. Or brake caliper hardware scraping... I had a bad strut bearing make a weird sound only after driving for a bit

 

Agreed.

 

Wheel bearing for sure.

I just replaced both of mine, again. Passengers had no play and drivers play was minimal. But the ball bearing cage on the drivers side was in pieces and it sounded like I was pushing a chunk of metal down the road. Now with new hubs, bearings & seals and all torqued down (174-231 ft/lb IIRC ) it rides quiet and tight. Mine was missing the spindle nut locking retainer on both sides and one of the washers so the cotter pin was all but useless. And these nuts are supposed to be a one time use and should be replaced each time they are removed. Just thought I'd share my experience since I had to go through it twice on each side in about 6 months. OH, and it's worth it to pay the extra for the brand name (Timken, National, etc.). They're about half price on Amazon over parts stores.

Good luck getting your issue fixed.

 

I gave up and took to a shop. The first shop gave up, but the second said the spindle nut was loose and tightened it. The problem seems to be gone, at least for now.

When I tightened the nut, I made it as tight as I could with the 1/2" breaker bar, but maybe that wasn't tight enough for 175 ft. lbs or more (torque wrench goes up only to 150). But there was no play in the wheel when I wiggled it from top and bottom, so I thought it was tight enough.

If the problem comes back, I'll definitely look at the wheel bearing and race (which I replaced once before), but didn't think a bearing could go clunk clunk clunk, just a continuous rumble.

Thanks for all your ideas!