I have a 2004 Subaru Forester - POS - though I shouldn’t complain it has 180K without any major repairs. Its just driving me nuts right now with the scrapping and squeaking noise from the front driver’s side wheel. I put on new front break pads and rotors in March of this year - no problems until the last three weeks (starting in mid September). The front driver’s side wheel sounds as if it has a loud suspension squeak in addition to metal (tin) rubbing again the rotor. I disassembled the breaks twice now putting “anti-noise break pad paste - goo” on everything that could be rubbing and inspected to see if there is anything rubbing - nothing that I could see. The only thing I did not replace were the noise elimination clips - but I did rub them down with the anti-noise break goo. the sound keeps pace with the wheel speed and gets louder the slower I go. Turning left or right has no effect on the sound what-so-ever. Now to make it that much more annoying, I put the entire car up on blocks, started it, put it in drive, revved up the wheel speed, and nothing - not a sound. No bearing sound, nor rubbing sound, no suspension sound. It only occurs when there is weight on the wheels. WTF?
Those clips for the brake pads aren’t anti-noise clips. They’re brake pad drag reduction clips.
If you applied brake noise reduction compound to those clips, you’ve basically glued the pads to the rotors. And that’s what’s causing the noise.
Remove the pads and clips and remove the compound from the pads and clips until clean. Then apply a slight amount of brake caliper grease to the clips and reinstall the clips and pads
Tester.
But the noise started before I used the brake noise reduction compound, and there is no noise when there is no load on the suspension - like when the car is driving on the road. When I had the car up on blocks and put the car in drive, the wheels spun without any excess noise what-so-ever?
In either case, you have to clean the clips and pads of that compound.
When you had the wheels off the ground, did you grab each tire at the 6:00 and 12:00 o:clock positions and try rocking the tires to if there’s a worn wheel bearing?
Tester
You might also check the brake rotor shield to see if it’s bent.
I shall clean the clips - actually I think I will buy new ones - and do the wheel bearing check - and check the brake rotor shield - thank you - and will post an update tomorrow…
The squeaking/scraping sound might be a dust ring on the CV Joint hitting the steering knuckle.