Loud grinding noise from front drivers side wheel area?

Hello all,

As the title suggests I'm getting an intermittent (happened twice in an hour long drive) and very loud grinding noise from the front drivers side wheel area. The best way I could describe it is like the sound you used to get when you put a Coke can on the back wheel of your bike as a kid, or adult with nothing better to do.

It seems to be occurring under braking or direction change but as it's only happened to me a grand total of 3 times, I wouldn't take that as gospel. The noise will disappear under braking, once I've either slowed down to a crawl or come to a complete stop.

I've checked for any evidence of bodywork coming into contact with the wheel but no sign of that happening. I'm thinking either a brake issue or possible a kingpin bearing issue (the dealer did change these out before I bought the car)

Anyway, I'll be taking the wheel off tomorrow for a poke around so any advice on where to concentrate my efforts would be much appreciated


Ta, MilkyRon

Check the wheel bearing for sure.

Other than that check both pads are whole. Check that the backing plate isn't touching the disc. Make sure there's no debris caught anywhere around the disc.

I can't think how kingpins would cause this sort of noise but could be wrong. Wheel bearing would be my prime suspect followed by something touch around the disc that shouldn't be

Do you have full steering in both directions without obstruction?

Yeah, no issues with obstruction. I've had the wheels at full lock in both directions to check clearance when I had the 195/80/15 tyres fitted.

My SAAB once had discs that were rusty and exfoliating at the edges - they made an intermittent grinding noise against the backplates - I used a piece of wood as a drift and a hammered the backplates away from the flakey discs

I've also had pieces of grit get stuck between the backplate and the disc that also caused an intermittent grinding noise that was only apparent when turning

Probably not what I was thinking of then. Could be wheel bearing related if the hub is able to move enough to contact something it shouldn't when it's under load?