Today, vehicles are indispensable things in daily life. Yet, although there is a high frequency of use, few people can understand and handle technical problems that arise well.
Specifically, many of us must have faced rubbing noise from front wheel when driving, which results in an uncomfortable driving experience. Therefore, this post will go through the causes and remedies of this front wheel noise while driving.
Is Rubbing Noise From The Front Wheel When Driving Dangerous?
These days, grinding rubbing noise while driving is common. Nevertheless, many of us underrate that problem and pay little attention.
In reality, even though this is a familiar issue, it could signify a serious mechanical car issue.
For example, rubbing noise from front wheel when driving slow could be a problem with brake pads or wheel bearings.
In other circumstances, the grinding noise from front wheel may result from brake caliper damage that is in charge of the deceleration of cars.
As every car needs a qualified brake system, without it, the car may lose control, resulting in horrific crashes and potentially dangerous situations.
Hence, let’s take a close look at its causes below to find out the possible ways to handle them.
What Causes A Rubbing Sound When Driving A Car?
Defective Tires
A faulty tire is one of the primary causes that the front wheel makes noise when driving. We should take care of the signs of defective tires as it is important for driving safety.
Furthermore, those faulty tires make rubbing sounds louder on stony or rugged roads. The tire might worsen and face other potential damages when going through those difficult conditions.
Breakdowns Of Brake Caliper, Pad, Or Rotor
All those parts are involved together in the wheel. So, if the rubbing noise coming from front wheel, failures in the brake system (caliper or pad, and rotor) may be the grounds.
For instance, depending on how fast the car tire rotates and the vehicle’s weight, the brake pads mostly stand lots of pressure because of their slowing down function.
As a result, the brake pads become worn unevenly, causing loud rubbing noise when driving.
The brake pad, brake caliper, and brake disc can be damaged during a car’s lifespan. In many cases, the rubbing noise when driving slow or fast could be because of the friction between the brake caliper and the brake rotor.
Problems Related To Wheel Bearings Or Cv Joint
Wheel bearings are responsible for connecting the wheels to the axle. Hence, a noise from the front wheel may come from the bearings’ problems, such as lack of lubricant, bearing contamination, etc.
Furthermore, the Constant Velocity (or CV) joints play a crucial role in linking the wheels and the vehicle transmission system.
When the CV joint is short of lubrication or suffers from corrosion, we may hear the intermittent rubbing noise from front wheel.
Rubbing Between Materials
In the area of the wheels, there are multiple components contributing to the wheel’s operation. After long and continuous moving periods, those materials are affected by road conditions, weather, etc.
Subsequently, they may leave their original position and then hit or rub each other.
As a result, friction between those materials is one of the possible causes of rubbing noise when driving slow or fast.
Other Possible Causes
Apart from the mentioned above, there are other grounds for rubbing sounds when driving, including:
- Brake pads, calipers, or discs are improperly installed.
- Something got stuck in the brake system, CV joint, etc.
- Improper installation of tires.
How To Fix A Rubbing Noise When Driving?
Depending on the causes and the level of damage, we would approach the suitable ways to fix a rubbing sound when driving. However, hereafter, we would like to give a basic list of steps to deal with that noisy sound.
Step 1: Using A Jack To Lift The Vehicle
To inspect the issues of our cars, we should lift them off the ground first. In this step, we need to use a mechanical jack as it supports us a lot in getting a clearer view from the bottom.
Moreover, we can’t lift the car by hand, so using a jack would be the most effective way to inspect and bring us safety.
Step 2: Look At The Brake
Then, check the brake for any damage. In other words, we start to look at the brake pad, rotor, and caliper.
Brake pads
Like the tires, the pads of the brake are one of the simplest parts of cars to diagnose and fix. It’s crucial to recognize the problems of the pads before fixing them. Some audible and visible warning signs include
- Sparking while braking
- Rattles when braking
- Using more pressure on the brake
- Worn out brake pads
We can apply the below options to solve the brake rubbing noise while driving based on the conditions.
- Replace the worn-out pads with the new ones
- Install new brake pads to fix warped or misaligned pads
- If the holding parts of pads are impaired, we should go to the professional repair garage for better solutions.
Brake calipers & rotors
Normally, these two parts are more serious and difficult to solve than worn-out pads. Thus, when recognizing the issues that come from calipers and rotors, we should consider them as soon as possible:
- Take the car to a professional mechanic shop to repair
- If we are educated well with mechanic knowledge and equipped with the standard tools, we can repair them ourselves.
Step 3: Check The Tires And Wheel Bearings
The tires
This is the most visible component that can be fixed quickly.
- If the tires are underinflated, we need to reinflate them using air pumps.
- In the cases that our tires are flat, damaged, or torn, we can replace the old with the new spare one attached to the car. Otherwise, we can let the repair shop replace them.
- If the tires are leaking out of the air, they can be repaired by reseating the leaking area.
Wheel bearings
It’s necessary to discover whether the wheel bearings are loosening up or not, whether they have been distributed enough lubricant, etc.
It is suggested that we should go to the repair shop to look after these problems unless we have enough mechanical knowledge.
Step 4: Examine the dust shield
The dust shield stops the braking system’s heat from reaching the suspension and drivetrain components. In addition, this shield helps prevent water and debris from penetrating the brake pads, rotors, or calipers.
Replace this metal sheet with a new one if it has been subjected to wear and strain.
Besides, remind ourselves to clean all the dust, dirt, or stones in all the components as they may be the minor troublemakers making the sounds.
Step 5: Re-Start And Examine Vehicles
After going through the above checking stages and adjustments, it’s time for us to start the car and drive around to examine whether the wheels still emit the grinding noise.
Note: Vehicle Maintenance
In short, like other machines, vehicles need maintenance during their lifespan. It helps the car run more smoothly and brings us a more comfortable driving experience.
Additionally, maintenance keeps the cars away from mechanical issues such as grinding rubbing noise while driving in this case. Therefore, it’s important to schedule a regular basis for checking our cars!
FAQs
Why Do New Tires Make A Rubbing Noise?
It’s normal to hear a rubbing sound when using new tires. The typical reasons for this phenomenon are lubricant and/or flexibility & stretch.
- Lubricant: in reality, there is an amount of lubricant needed to be on all tire sides. A new tire may not be well distributed with enough lubricant, leading to a rubbing noise.
- Flexibility & stretch: it’s indispensable to warm up a brand new tire for a car. Warming up helps to enhance the flexibility and stretch level of the tires. For that reason, new tires that aren’t flexible and stretched enough would make some grinding noise at first.
What Noise Will A Bad Wheel Bearing Make?
Normally, growling, repeated chirping, and/or squealing noises are typical sounds of a damaged wheel bearing.
The noticeable point here is fluctuation. If the sound fluctuates with car speed, we might be sure it’s about the wheel bearings.
In addition, let’s notice that every turn can make the sound worse, or somehow it can go away for a brief while.
All the above symptoms are usually related to wheel-bearing problems. We need to take notes and fix them as soon as possible to avoid undesirable incidents.
Conclusion
In conclusion, rubbing noise from front wheel when driving is not a rare situation. Whenever we hear the noises, especially rubbing noise when turning at slow speeds, they can be the warning symptoms of some other severe complications.
Understanding the grounds of our vehicles’ noises, such as brake system errors, faulty tires, etc., will help us a lot in fixing them.
Through the possible causes and step-by-step guide mentioned above, we hope that the grinding noises while driving are no longer bothering any of us along the way.
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