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Hey guys, I really need some help diagnosing a weird problem with my hatch. Ever since I swapped the GSR knuckles onto my EK, as mentioned in an earlier post, I've had bad camber and toe-in probs. I have an appointment with Darrin at West End later this week to get that sorted out but I have another issue that's been bugging the hell out of me and I can't pinpoint the problem whatsoever.

There is literally a tire chirping sound, like when a tire loses traction or if you slam it into 2nd etc..whenever I make a turn either left or right. The sounds are coming from the front two wheels. It makes a really loud rubber chirping sound consistently through the whole turn. The harder I turn the louder it gets. I recall that bad wheel bearings sound more like a low drone/moaning/flat spot on the tire kind of sound that increases with speed or load, but this sound is a very obvious high pitched tire chirping noise.

Just to be safe, when I was changing the oil this weekend, I checked everything underneath and all looked fine. While the car was still on stands, I tried to wobble the wheels to see if perhaps it was a bad bearing, but the wheel was pretty solid. What the heck could it be? I've searched the boards and no one has mentioned anything close to what I'm experiencing. Could it still possible be bad wheel bearings because I've heard that the "trying to wobble the wheel" method is not always accurate, but the sound is so unlike the way most ppl describe bad wheel bearings to sound like. Also, I can sometimes hear it when going straight, but not as loudly as when I turn.

What perplexed me even further was the other day when I turned into a plaza that was newly repaved. While turning, the same sound was there, but when I began driving straight, the car made the squealing/chirping sound the whole way through the freshly paved parking lot. It was weird because when I drive on the street, I rarely hear it going in a straight line. So what do you guys think? Should I still suspect the wheel bearings or could this be some kind of weird alignment problem that will be sorted out after a trip to West End? I have really bad camber and toe-in after the knuckle swap so I even raised the car thinking the tires were rubbing somewhere to make that sound, but no luck! Sorry for the ultra long post, but I really need some advice on where I should look for the problem!!! Thanks!!!

Turbogixxer

You sure that your tire(s) are not rubbing? jack the car up and grab the wheel parallel to the car (3 and 9 o'clock) and move it back and froth, if it has play, it is you tie rods. Then grab the tire by 12 and 6 o'clock and do the same, if it has play, your wheel bearing is bad. Also, look at the bearing, you can see if it is bad if it is red or looks like there is alot of heat coming from the bearing. Also, you check your engine belts by chance?

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I'm 99.9% my tires aren't rubbing whatsoever. When the car was on stands, I checked for any areas of rubbing contact and there was none. Plus, like I said, I raised my car significantly to see if the sound would go away, but no luck. I already tried the 3/9, and 12/6 grab of the tire to see if there is any play, but the tire feels pretty solid all around. The squeaking/chirping sound is definitely not the engine belts though, I had that prob a few years back and know the difference, this sound just sounds like bad squealing/chirping tires obviously coming from the wheelwells. Thanks for the quick reply, anyone else have any ideas???? I'm stumped...

Oh, another question, I head that you can also check for bad bearings by spinning the wheels while the car is on stands. Is it a symptom of bad bearings if the wheel spins freely or if it is hard to spin?

Turbogixxer

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SoichiroH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Oh, another question, I head that you can also check for bad bearings by spinning the wheels while the car is on stands. Is it a symptom of bad bearings if the wheel spins freely or if it is hard to spin?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, you can, it will have drag on it (you can feel the bearing draging, not the drivetrain drag). IT should spin free (within reason), but you may not be able to tell. Also, check to see if anything is hunging off your car. (aka plastic cover, etc)

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update: the sound my car was making was my front tires scrubbing from really excessive toe-in. got it aligned and everything's cool

Turbogixxer

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SoichiroH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">update: the sound my car was making was my front tires scrubbing from really excessive toe-in. got it aligned and everything's cool </TD></TR></TABLE>

Sweet, glad to hear that