i was driving thru a residential area at about 25-30 and all of a sudden i start hearing this screeching/squealing noise.
it was metal on metal type screeching, or the sound of metal being bent.
i thought it was just construction workers in the area so i went on my merry little way. by the time i was a block and a half away i still heard it so i said, "****", stopped the car and went to investigate. everything looked normal. i'm pretty sure it was coming from the rear passenger wheel. i drove the car (with the screeching) about 20 feet more and then it just dissappeared.

any ideas on what the problem is?
i'm thinking maybe the piston on the caliper locked up but i'm not too sure. i did say that it sounded like metal on metal grinding so maybe something was being torqued that shouldn't have been

 

Your bushings in your upper control arm are shot. Welcome to wonderful world of FD suspension.

 

does it have a pattern to the sqeal..like at certain times the wheel is turning? squealing increases as speed increases? Just checking to make sure its not something obvious like the pad.
How loud?
Tim

 

it got louder as i got faster (i think). the squeal was when the car moved, not by steppin on the brake.

 

yo zerobanger, how sure are you about the problem being the bushings?

bushing work is gonna rip my wallet a new *******

 

no, but I replaced my upper control arm and my squeeling went away. Mine squeeled when I went over a bump or if Ipressed down hard on the rear of the car.

it was cheaper to replace the arm than to replace the bushings!!! the arm comes with new bushings.

I cant say for sure, just jack the car up and see if you can move the wheel around. thats a good way to see.

btw..with my noises there was no real pattern. the noise would go away for 3 days then I'd have it for 3 more. someimes have in the morning and then it go away after the car warmed up. made no sense.

 

did it go away when you stepped on the brake?

and like above, I'm sure you've checked to see how much pad you have left.
Tim

 

all 4 pads have less than 8000 miles and the rotors were resurfaced at the time the brake pads were changed.

the sound happened when the car moved. when the car stopped there was no sound.

there's nothing right now, i just wanna know what it could have been so i can check it out before it gets to be a huge problem.

 

checked both my rear wheels and they spin, just not as freely as the fronts.
is this normal ?

 

I had a noise same as you described, from my left rear wheel. It also starting while I was driving slow in a residential area, actually as I went around a left corner. It had me worried, but while we were poking around in the brakes a little rock fell out. It was caught somewhere between the brake rotor and the shield behind it. Must have picked it up going around that corner. Problem solved!

 

hahhaha
i guess it could have been something so simple. thanks alot!

 

i agree with tim benton,

some pads have a little piece of metal, that will hit your rotor when your pads are beginning to wear down. no matter how new you think your pads are, i would look into this first, before i would go into replacing bushings and barrings,

paul

 

I had this same problem with a rock getting caught in the shield. Also, the shield can get bent and rub on your rotor - this happened to me once. If you have large wheels like I do you can reach between the spokes and gently push the shield back to give a little more clearance.

If the problem continues, you probably have more serious issues such as zerobanger is suggesting, or possibly brakes. I wouldn't worry about it though unless it continues.

 

no problems ever since the incident i described. hopefully it won't come back.

 

ahhhhh! dang rocks!