Slow speed rubbing noise - similar to disc but not
 

Hi

Before I take it in for further diagnosis. My 2.0 C30 petrol 2012 is making a slight rubbing noise from front drivers wheel area.

It is rotational noise and increases with speed. It does not go away with brakes applied and also exists when coasting in neutral (new Bosch discs and pads last summer)

Checked for debris with disc and back plate and seems fine. The tyre could possibly be making the noise, but have my doubts as I can't imaging how it could make a kinda fff.......fff.......fff........fff........fff..... ..fff........fff sound.

The car at speed is fine and no bearing failure noise when turning and no constant wirring hum.

Could be a drive shaft issue I suppose but maybe that would make noise at speed as well.

I could take caliper and disc off to check for deep debris that might be rubbing. But otherwise it's beyond me.

Any ideas?

Many thanks

You seem to have checked the obvious. I would jack the car up and rotate the wheels by hand and listen carefully to see if you can pinpoint the noise. It's nearly always some debris, often a small stone, trapped between backplate and disc and easily overlooked. Flaking on a brake pad can also do it as can a rusty backplate which is disintegrating.

John

Thanks for reply, had that issue some time again before new discs and pads. Stone in the backplate.. Pretty sure this is not it.

Just popped out to the car and wiggled the front wheel.....it has slight front and back play (rotational and not in and out play) and not like the the passenger side . It might possibly be a bearing or tie rods,driveshaft or something else.

I belive there shouldnt be any front to back play at all. It is only very slight.

Will either take wheel off for closer look or just bite the bullet and drop off at usual garage.

i think the same issue here too, a rubbing from the rear wheels but cant tell whats causing it

Sounds like a noisy wheel bearing. There may be no play in it though, but it could be causing the noise.

Jack the car up, put it in neutral & rotate the wheels by hand. Hold your hand on the spring & you should feel very little vibration. If you feel rubbing of any sort, that indicates a bad bearing.

You could also have warped brake discs. Mine were “new” & still are in essence, as they were only fitted around two years ago with minimal miles done because of lockdowns. They’re already warped & I haven’t done any hard braking! This has been confirmed by a garage.

This is a good point. In 25 years of Volvo ownership I can say the aftermarket discs seem to be universally crap. Now, I NEVER use anything but genuine Volvo discs and pads. This seems to be a widely shared opinion.

John

My partner's X Trail has a squeaky bearing, not impossible you have too.

Hi

Garage took it for test drive and could hear the quiet rotational rubbing with windows down at low speed but they were not sure what it was without a full teardown.

So. just got round to re-checking the brakes myself and investigating further.

Absolutely zero issues with discs, pads, or Brake Caliper and no foreign objects etc I dismantled/cleaned and re-assembled the lot. The Bosch (E190R02C00740334, BD2191) discs are running true and no warps. They are good quality discs and pads.

Having listened very carefully while rotating hub the sound seems to be coming from the front driveshaft. Rubber boots in excellent condition with no rips.

So for now I am not going to do anything about it. At anything above a crawl and windows back up I can't here anything. If it gets worse I think the drive shaft will require renewing as could be the CV joint within the rubber boot. (or it could still be the bearing)

One thing I didn't do is check the tightness of the nut that goes into the hub. with the torque wrench perhaps I will do that another day, but I doubt there are any issues there.

I wonder if there may be a small amount of corrosion behind the hub carrier that's rubbing?

Clearances here are pretty tight so it doesn't take much. If I understand the noise you have described I can't think what would cause that from the actual CV joint.

If the carrier is a bit crusty a quick wire brush (after pushing the driveshaft back) and a squirt of rust remover should do the trick.

Thanks, sounds logical.

Would I need to undo the shaft nut on the hub to do this?

Presumably I will need to remove disc and calipers again to gain proper access.

Many Thanks