Crunching Noise Coming From Front Passenger Wheel...

[Musicman555]

I recently replaced my shocks (KYB GR2s) and a week or so later I started hearing a crunching noise over my front passenger wheel when the suspension is triggered (on any kind of bump in the road). I first thought I had run over a tree branch and it was scraping the road on bumps but when I looked it over I did not see anything. It seems more pronounced in cold weather and the sound seems to fade after driving for a while. I took the car in to the place that installed the shocks and they said everything checked out just fine and could not reproduce the sound because the car was warmed up due to me driving over there. I jacked the car up and looked around and did not see anything out of place. There is not much play when I try to wiggle the wheel. Has anyone had this kind of sound/situation before?

[ChiTDI]

Are you getting overnight rust on the rotor?
We get that all the time from December to March. Brake pads scrape it off and it sounds like somebody is dragging a metal Christmas tree behind the wheel.

[Musicman555]

Unfortunately I don't think that's the case. I'm in Florida and our "cold" is really only a mild cold and the sound is also not connected to any kind of braking. Thank you for the response though... The sound is really baffling me

[buchaja]

It sounds like a wheel bearing. I have no experience to say one way or the other though. How many miles on the vehicle?

[poolvibe]

I just went through this after replacing all four. It was in the rear though. Ended up being the rear sway bar links. I would grab ahold of the front links and shake them good. If there is any play, they need to be replaced.

[Musicman555]

buchaja: I initially guessed wheel bearing as well, but the sound is not consistent. It goes away after about 15 minutes of driving. In my past experiences with wheel bearings the sound is pretty constant. I may just end up replacing the wheel bearing because of the high mileage on the car and the drivers side front wheel bearing is a little worn (the tire has a bit of play when jacked up). I have 130,000 miles on it at this time. I drive a lot for business and have not had any real problems to date. Just regular maintenance (brakes, tires, changed all fluids, timing belt, oil changes, and more recently the shocks and struts.) It's been a great car.

poolvibe: I will have to try that when I get a chance. When you heard the noise was it loudest after siting for a while and then did it taper off when you drove it for a while? Mine only seams to make noise in the morning when I go to work, but when I go to lunch in the afternoon there is no noise...

[buchaja]

Musicman555,

I did my own struts a few months ago, also used KYB's, and I decided to go ahead and replace the mounts at the same time. Even though our car had only 30K mi. the all city driving and rough roads out here had worn out the original ones.

I bring this up because it was while I was researching struts for the replacements that I decided to do the mounts too. There wasn't any noise from any of the wheels, but some who had done their struts but not the mounts found they had to go back soon and replace mounts because noise did develop.

Just some more thought on the matter if the sway bar isn't the problem.

Good luck. And I agree with you, these are wonderful cars. I just need to solve a pulling problem in mine and it will be darned near perfect!