Mysterious sound

Morpork

Hello all. I'm having a very frustrating problem with my car. I'll try to explain it as best I can in the hopes that someone here can help me. Sorry if it's a bit long.

It's an 02 Nissan Almera 1.5.
25,000 Miles on the clock.
Recently serviced and NCT'd.

There is a high-pitched grinding / screeching sound coming from the car while the car is in motion. However it only happens after driving the car for about 15 minutes. Then, the longer I drive the car, the more constant the sound becomes and it also becomes a bit louder. If I rest the car for 5-10 minutes the sound won't come back for 15 minutes. The sound can be heard clearly from inside the car with the windows up and even with the radio on.

If I use the break, the noise stops while the break is depressed, however if I press the break very slowly, the pitch of the sound changes slightly until I press harder and then it stops.

If I turn the wheel a few degrees to the left, the noise will emit, but the more I drive the less I need to turn the wheel for the noise to emit. After 30 minutes the sound will emit even with the wheel centered. Only by turning the wheel a few degrees to the right will it stop.

It doesn't matter if I'm accelerating or not. In gear or in neutral.

I drove on the motorway for 30 minutes and the sound didn't emit. So perhaps it's a case of the more I use the break or wheel, not the more I drive. (I wanted to test the motorway again but I didn't have time. I'm not sure about this).

After driving for 20-30 minutes, if I roll the car very slowly from a stationary position the sound is even louder. (I guess this makes sense).

I got my girlfriend to run alongside the car (haha) so she could gauge where the sound is coming from and she settled on the front and "middle". It's difficult to locate.

I brought the car to a local garage to get it checked. The lad there has done good work for me and my family in the past, however after three visits, there has been no change and he is stumped. He took the back wheels off and cleaned, greased and tightened the shoes and even found a piece of debris that looked like it was grinding and removed it. He showed me the front and back pads have plenty left in the them.

I'd like to assist him in solving the problem, but I don't know very much about cars, so I'm hoping you guys can help.

Thanks very much!

mike65

It could be the wheel bearing on the left front wheel when they are worn they make a "graunching" wearing sound which gets worse as heat builds up. Braking force can have effect on the sound.

A way to test is to jack up the front (gears in neutral) and the turn the wheel to check how freely it moves (any noise?) and then grip the tyre top and bottom and see if you can "shake" it, then do so left and right side. If there is any movement beyond the smallest fraction then the bearings are worn.

YES DIY

Defo sounds like a wheel bearing

Get it in the air and give it a good shake shouldn't be much play from side to side

crosshair1

The front brake pads are stuck in the slides. 100%
Remove front calipers and one of the pads will be stuck. (they will be ok when you can take them out by hand and not prise them)

Have to say normally difficult to describe noises, but thats one of the best descrptions of a fault that Ive seen on here.

Morpork

Thanks guys!

I raised the car and spun the wheels, but there was no sound. I then checked to see if there was any give in them and there wasn't.

I'll take it back to the garage tomorrow morning with your suggestions and hopefully we can fix it!

And thanks crosshair1 - I was worried I couldn't explain it well! You're right, it's difficult.

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Nissan doctor

The brake pads are worn I'd say and the noise your hearing is the wear clip touching the disk.

Morpork

Hi Nissan Doctor,

that was my first guess too and I actually bought break pads before I brought it to the garage so he could fit them, but then as I said he showed me the pads still have a lot of life left in them. That's why he thought it must be the rear shoes need a greasing.

Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Morpork

As mike65 and YES DIY suggested, it was the wheel bearing.

I'll buy one tomorrow and have it fitted. Thanks for the help!

mike65

No probs (still got it!)

Morpork

Morpork wrote: »

As mike65 and YES DIY suggested, it was the wheel bearing.

I'll buy one tomorrow and have it fitted. Thanks for the help!

If your mechanic couldn't diagnose a worn wheel bearing after three attempts I'd consider changing mechanic tbh.

I was thinking wear clip on the pad too though tbh :pac:

Well done to Mike