Terrible screeching noise coming from near side wheel

[ChunkyMonty]

Have got a 2012 superb greenline with only 6700 miles on the clock. This evening the most horrendous screeching high pitched grinding noise started coming from the passenger side front wheel.

Thought it was brakes so dabbed them soft and hard - noise didn't stop.

Thought its suspension but when you lean on the bonnet there is no noise have looked with a torch and can't see anything obvious - like a stone caught between calliper and alloy for instance.

Stopped in car park and checked. It's seems worse / louder the slower you go. Have driven fast and slow to try and clear it but to no avail. Driven about 10 miles with the noise so far and it won't go away.

Anyone have the same experience or have an idea of what it could be?

Will ring the dealer in the morning but its annoying me that I can't see what it is myself.

[GrahamElegance]

I have had this three or four times over the last 4 years. I think you will find that you have a small stone in the nearside brakes, caught between the disc shield and the disc. The noise is the stone roling round and scratching against the disc. If you stop and go to the wheel you can feel behind the wheel and flex the brake shield and often the stone will fall out. Sometimes just driving will "crush" the stone or flick it back out.

[lowedb]

I had the same noise after they surfaced our road and a stone got stuck. Took a good 30 or 40 miles before it came out.

[GaSelle]

Tried that twice in my second car, a Toyota Aygo. Just one meter of reversing caused the stone to fall out and solved the problem

[ChunkyMonty]

Sorry for taking time with a follow up report, don't know what caused it seemed to be the disc shield/ protector beng bent inwards towards the disc. Got a large flat head screwdriver and "gently" pushed it all back outwards. Nothing fell out so that's why I don't reckon it was a stone caught. Either way seems to have solved it ....... for now

[badbaz]

Mine often gets stones trapped between the disc and back plate, my Octy VRS estate was even more prone to it, strange thing to happen, must be designed in a particular way

[shredhead]

This happened to me last week. Got put on a tow truck to the dealer (2nd hand Fabia under warranty) and the noise had cleared. Brakes, suspension and anti roll bar all checked and ok. I wonder if a stone got stuck and then unstuck.

[silver1011]

Either a stone or the disc shield. The mounting points for the shields are a weak point.

 

If they are caught when removing the wheels or you drive fast through deep puddles they bend, then vibrate around the bolts, resulting in stress fractures.

 

Once they loosen enough they either rattle or fall against the rotating disc.

[silver1011]

 

When mine failed I had to cut them off, unfortunately their design requires removal of the discs...

 

 

 

 

 

[Bassthang]

My 2005 Octavia had an horrendous chuck-chuck noise coming from the back as I drove home last night. When I got home I found that the back plate /  shield had rusted and torn off and become caught inside the wheel. I was able to extract the piece this morning, but of course I now have a car with no shield on one wheel. I've been reading these comments and see that fitting a new one is probably not something I could safely attempt myself, as it involves the removal of the discs. I'm in the process of finding a new car anyway, so I don't want to spend lots of money having a garage fit a new shield (or, more likely, four shields, as you can bet the others are similarly rusted and falling apart). I approached a garage a few months ago about replacing the rear shocks and they advised me to just get rid of the car, as the work would cost much more than the car is worth.

Is it OK to drive a car with one of these shields missing? Hopefully it'll only be for a week or two until I can find a replacement.

[J.R.]

Find another garage or DIY as the rear shocks have to be one of the easiest jobs in the world, only beaten in the easiness stakes by rear spring replacement and rear disc backplate replacement.

 

If, that is you cut a slot in the old one to remove it as shown in the photos above and make one single cut to fit the new ones, done properly it will be invisible and not lose any rigidity. Otherwise removing the hub is a pain in the backside.

[Bassthang]

I think the problem that the original garage staff were worried about was the amount of rust. They reckoned that fitting the new shocks would be a problem because the mounting points were so rusty, meaning extra work (maybe welding) to complete the job. I must admit that this vehicle is VERY rusty! Having driven VW Passats for the last few years, I was surprised at how much rust was present all over this car. I knew VWs were good from that point of view, but I thought that over the years the other manufacturers had caught up. Maybe that was one of the cost-saving measures of earlier Skodas.
I'll ask around and see if I can get some better estimates. I'm thinking of moving on (and another, newer, Octavia is on my shortlist), but if I can get this one fixed up for not too much money (it also needs work on the handbrake), it will buy me more time to find a better successor. It's CAZ-compliant, so still potentially sellable.