Hey guys,

Hope you are all doing well. So I have discovered yet another consistent grinding noise while driving my Z. Less than a year ago my left wheel bearing was shot and was making a similar noise but much much louder, and would become louder when I would turn right and put load on it.

So I figured it was the right bearing going now. So I jackup my car, check the wheel to look for wobble and it was solid as a rock. I rotated it as well and it made no noises.

The sound is not very audible. For example, I can not hear it with the windows open or with any music on whatsoever. When the windows are up though, I can hear it between 15mph and 30mph either decellerating in gear, or rolling in neutral. It is a metal on metal rotating rubbing noise.

It is a constant noise that occurs every time, not just once in a while. On top of that, the noise actually goes away or is dampened under load when turning left or right. Which leads me to believe it is not a bearing. Any ideas?

2003 Touring Edition 6MT

 

I had the exact same situation as you. I thought I had a blown bearing, exact same sound as when my Jeep's went. I only heard it between 20-30km/hr.

My problem was tire feathering, the sound went away when I turned as well. I swapped the tires so the feathering was on the outside, now it's completely quiet straight but sounds like metal-on-metal grinding when I make turns at a slow speed.

My suggestion is check the tires.

 

This exactly. I wouldn't say it's a metal on metal sound. But more of a droning sound... wom-wom-wom-wom. New tires/re-alignment cleared it up

 

So I jacked up the car and spun the wheels again to double check for wobble and the metal grinding from a bad bearing. Nothing... solid as a rock. But what I hear in one of my tires is the sound of some loose material rolling around inside the tire. Probably tire shavings and when rolling fast enough perhaps this creates the noise i'm talking about. I didn't see any significant feathering on my tires. I had the car aligned in December. Any other ideas?

 

I doubt it's anything in the tire.

No feathering at all? Or nothing significant? Mine had barely any yet they still made a TON of noise.