whistling from my front right wheel?

[Darchrow]

hi folks, got a question to pick your brains...

lately, there's been a whistling noise from my frnt/right wheel... the best i did to isolate the noise area was closing 3/4 of the windows, and i'm certain it's the front right...

anyway, the best to describe this noise is... a soft whistling noise... i can hear it as i drive, and a little louder as i brake...

any ideas as to what it could be? (planning on taking it to Toyota soon)
i'm kinda guessing it's the shocks, but i don't know too much about cars...

[bigbird]

shocks usualy dont whistle. could be your brakes, possibly worn pads, or the wheel bearing.

[SexieWASD]

Take it for a ride, find a road with no cars on it, or an empty parking lot. go about 15mph and turn the car left and right in a slalom motion, enough that there is body roll. If it gets louder when you turn left and goes away when you turn right it is most likely the right front wheel bearing and you should have it replaced as soon as possible, if it is the opposite of this than it would be the left front wheel bearing.

It could also be tire noise from a poorly worn tire, but that is usually a lower pitched noise than a bearing would be.

[flyeri]

Check your brake pads for wear. You may be heareing a wear indicator.

[frenum49]

It occurs to me that you may have run over Earle Hagen and he is clinging to the undercarriage.

[Mike Gerber]

What flyeri said. This sounds like a brake pad wear indicator. Disc brake pads have little metal tangs built in to them to act as pad wear indicators. When the pad material wears to a certain minimum thickness, a tang now comes in contact with the spinning rotor making a light screaching sound. It's a way of telling you to have your brakes checked for wear. It saves you from letting the pad wear down to bear metal and have that metal contact and ruin the rotor.

Mike

[finfinder]

What Mike said.

[rty]

I have the same problem except my brake pads are new. When I brake the noise goes away.

[Darchrow]

i don't think it's the brake pads... because the noise persists while driving.. and i've heard the brake pad indicator noise before, this noise i am hearing now doesn't sound like the scratching noise of brake pad indicators.. more like a soft whistling noise... seems to get a split second louder (only slightly) at a certain point where the tire is spinning..............

i was planning on taking it to toyota this friday when i have some time.