I have a 2000 Accord which has been making grating noise. I think it is coming from the front-right wheel. I can hear it (and feel it coming through the floorboard) at low speeds. Also, I have realized that if I look at the dashboard carefully, I can see the car go up and down with the noise on the passenger side. My mechanic acknowledged that he could hear it too, but couldn’t figure out what it is. Any ideas? Thanks.
Is this noise directly related to the speed at which you are driving?
In other words, if you go faster, does the noise change in pitch, frequency, etc?
I Would Carefully Check The Tires. A Defective Tire Will Make This Sound And Movement, Especially Noticed At Parking Lot Speed.
Somebody should check your tires for run-out, uniformity, and defects in general.
CSA
Yes, it is related to the speed. It will not change pitch, but it gets faster and eventually at high speeds it gets drowned out by road noise.
Can I do it myself? What if I rotated them, will that tell me if it’s the tires? Thanks for the advice.
DIY? You Can Check The Tires Yourself, Reasonably Well.
Check the pressure in them first and adjust if necessary.
You can move front tires to the rear and rear tires to the front and see if the sound and movement goes with the tires.
You can spin the tires (when mounted on the rear so that they can free-wheel) while the car is jacked up.
Hold a pointer just off the center of the tread while the tire spins and see if the tread is playing back and forth or in and out (Tread should stay close to the same distance away from pointer). Compare the tires and see if the suspect tire is drastically different.
You can also look at and feel the tread by brushing your hand over it feeling for any high spots or abnormalities. Be careful as any sharp objects imbedded in the tire or a damaged protruding belt can cut your hand. Look for cracks in the rubber.
Should you find a tire that is not true, next use your pointer on the rim of the wheel and be sure the wheel rim is true and not bent. That way you’ll know it’s the tire and not the rim that’s bad.
CSA
When you say your mechanic could not figure this out, was this a appointment you made specificaly to get this issue resolved and the mechanic inspected this car from top to bottom and came up empty? Or was this just a casual 'hop in and go for a ride and tell me what you think situation"?
He took a quick drive initially and told me he couldn’t hear it. The next time he said, leave it here and I’ll try to figure out. He took it home with him so he could drive it longer. He said there was a noise, but didn’t know what it was. But, according to him it was nothing to worry about.
Hub bearings???