Grinding noise when driving

[Derecho]

Hey all,  Christmas holiday are coming to an end, and on the way home from a very long drive (800 miles!) I noticed intermittent grinding noise on one of the wheels, but I can't tell which wheel as I am driving alone and noise seems to come from all over the place.  Hoping to find some clues here, since I am unable to find a garage to inspect due to public holidays in Scotland. Still have 100 miles to drive tomorrow.

 

What noise? Grinding, (not metallic )worse when turning steering wheel left, less the opposite direction.  Noise increases with speed, but then after a few miles on motorway grinding disappears altogether, and remains gone. After a stop, the noise returns.

 

It sounds like scraping brake pads on disc, after parking car for a few days, or the sound of scraping your throat continuously.

 

Things checked?  Fuel consumption: it does not change for worse.  Discs are not heating up excessively, (though rear left is but warmer than rest), no vibration when braking, steering not pulling/drifting to left or right. Dashboard does not alert me of worn pads. For awhile I thought the issue were worn brake/stuck caliper, but last time it happened, fuel consumption was terrible. Preliminary conclusion: likely not the breaks, or is my conclusion wrong? 

 

How about bearings? Last time I had damaged bearings, the wheels were humming/howling. This time it's not. But the sound getting worse with turning may indicate a bad bearing. Right? What puzzles me, is that the sound disappears again.

 

Before stopping for the night, I hit a pothole badly at 60mph near Perth... because Scotland does not repair motorway potholes ..arghh.

 

Noise returned instantly, and I got a check tyre indicator on dashboard after a few miles. Upon inspection tyres were fine, and I reset the dashboard light and continued driving. The warning light did not return for 10 miles until temporary accommodation.

 

My suspicion is that the bearing was slowly dying, and then got a hit, but the noise stopping after a while makes me wonder if something else is playing.oooh, and the YouTube videos about broken bearings have a different sounds than mine.

 

 

I am hoping to find a mechanic in the morning but I am not positive. 

 

Any suggestions/clues in meantime?

 

Cheerio 

 

[J.R.]

If it graunches and screeches when you brake, a kind of noise that sets your teeth on edge then you have worn a brake pad through to the backing, if not then it sounds like one of the Bacofoil disc backplates has broken away from its mounting lugs.

 

I"m surprised your backplates have lasted 13 years, its usually far sooner than that but maybe you live well away from coastal areas or they have already been replaced once.

[Derecho]

Definitely not screeching.

 

So I jacked up car this morning l, both front wheels to check.  Almost instantly I noticed 1-2cm play on driver side front wheel, along top-bottom line.  Driving with that damage would not be safe ,so I dropped it off a local  garage in Dundee.

 

lets see what they say.  If news is bad, I will send it to scrapyard.

[Ootohere]

The Aberdeen / Area Scrap yards are not that good at parting with money.

The Fife ones might sometimes have a collection to do up there and do pay more IME.

 

You will find a buyer for your car, spares or repairs quite easily i think.

Maybe an advert on BRISKODA Forum will have someone wanting to come and take away your car.    If you need a good Skoda Mechanic anytime look no further than Victoria Garage, Maud. 

 

PS

Is there a Mobile Mechanic you know of that can do a repair and let you sell a running car?

They might even know of a buyer for your car.

 

EDIT.

Missed that the car is in Dundee.  

I hope it is at some trusted establishment. 

Edited 3 January by Rooted

[Derecho]

Great tips, thanks. 

I doubt I will get much money for it, except for spares. There are several things wrong.  : Egr valve broken again,  rust on boot and body, and now this.  Most valuable are probably the alloys with winter tyres and half a fuel tank 🤣....and the cd player 🤣

 

Maud is a little too far from Aberdeen, even if car is fixed in Dundee. But I appreciate the reference.

 

Garage seems decent: Maitland auto centre garage.  Are you familiar with it?

[Ootohere]

Many years since i have been there and it was OK then, and seems fine these days.

36 years since i lived pretty near to it. 

[Trapdoor]

5 hours ago, Derecho said:

Great tips, thanks. 

I doubt I will get much money for it, except for spares. There are several things wrong.  : Egr valve broken again,  rust on boot and body, and now this.  Most valuable are probably the alloys with winter tyres and half a fuel tank 🤣....and the cd player 🤣

 

Maud is a little too far from Aberdeen, even if car is fixed in Dundee. But I appreciate the reference.

 

Garage seems decent: Maitland auto centre garage.  Are you familiar with it?

Sorry to hear of your issues. If you have Xenons the headlights are probably the most valuable parts, hard to buy one for less than £300 secondhand. I would imagine it's almost certainly worth more fixed and sold with the other issues listed than for scrap. but I'm not an expert.

[Derecho]

Yep, I got the xenons. They are great...the monetary value of car suddenly doubled 😁.  If nothing else, it will help me to dodge any chancers if/when I try to get rid of the car.

 

is there anything else of value I should consider?

 

 

 

[Derecho]

Update :garage advised the wheel bearing was badly damaged, and wheel was almost hanging off. The mechanic was surprised that despite the damage, the bearing was not making the typical broken bearing noise when rotating the wheel. 

There was no damage to brakes, or suspension.

He quoted £180 for the fix, which I will try to recoup from BEAR Scotland.

 

I guess I am keeping  the car for a few more months.

[J.R.]

Who or what is BEAR?

[Derecho]

They are responsible for road maintenance in this part of Scotland.

 

BEAR

[Trapdoor]

No wonder it's not very good if they have Bear's doing it, it's hard to hold a shovel with paws.