Hey guys I've noticed a strange noise coming from the front driver's side wheel recently and it makes the noise more frequently as the wheel begins to spin faster...It's obviously very hard to describe the noise but it's kind of like a tick tick mixed with ch ch if you know what i mean haha...it does this regardless of whether the tire is turned straight or not while driving...I thought originally that some tar was stuck on my tires from my gf's newly paved driveway but now I don't think it sounds like that really and it would probably have come off by now anyways if it happened...anybody have any ideas as to what this could be?

 

most likely to least likely

-nail in tire, or rock stuck in tread (trust me, a rock can stay there for weeks...)
-dust shield scraping back of rotor
-brake pad low (wear indicator scraping rotor)
-bearings
-CV joints

 

Thank you for the information. I will take off the tire this weekend and inspect it thoroughly for any rocks/tar/nails like you mentioned. I have new Powerslot rotors and Hawk Brake pads up front that were installed in July so I know its's not the brake pad low.

If it's the dust shield, how can I see this (pic possibly) and do I simply just bend it back with my hand?

It's probably nothing as serious as bearings or CV joints, but if it is how much would that be roughly to replace for the front drivers side if you know? Thanks a lot.

 

the dust shield is the metal piece that is inboard of the rotor. You can bend it back with your hand, but usually that is more of a low speed scraping, not hihg speed.

But now that you mention you have powerslots, that brings up another possibility - that your pads are not "bedded" correctly and they are ticking the "slots" on the rotor as it rotates. This could be caused by a bad/missing spring clip on the pads or something like that.

Also, make sure you check all the wheels for nails/rocks - just because it sounds like the noise is from the front driver's side, doesn't mean it is. Sound has a funny way of bouncing around underneath the car. I had a nail in what I swore was my front right tire once.....turned out to be the left rear tire....

 

hmm...my driver's front wheel area makes that ticking noise too but only when I go reverse...weird.