2004 Sienna LE with 193,500 miles. While driving home tonight I started hearing a grinding noise from the passenger front wheel. The noise goes away on acceleration and braking. Whenever I take my foot off the gas it starts to make the noise again. It sounds almost like a brake noise but I just replaced the caliper bracket this past weekend and the brakes look great (less than 20,000 miles on caliper, rotor and pads). I suspect a bearing may be going bad and want to know if these symptoms match a bad bearing. The wheel bearings are all original.
Did the sound start immediately after replacing the caliper bracket? Or did you replace the bracket to try to get the noise to go away?
My first suspicion on reading your post is some kind of brake noise. It could be a bearning, but bad bearings typically make a growling noise, sort of like driving over a rough road surface, which gets louder the faster you go.
If I had this problem I’d try to answer these questions first:
Are the brake pads thick enough to still be serviceable? If this vehicle has CV joints on the front, are there any signs of tears in the boots, inner or outer?
What a coincidence. I started hearing a grinding, whoosh-whoosh-whoosh sound too on my 2005 Scion tC with 228,000 miles. A rear caliper was sticking and dragging the pad. The other was sticking a little too. I aimed the infrared thermometer at the left rear disc and that puppy was HOT. I changed the calipers, the pads, and the rotors. Checked the fronts and the parking brakes, both good. The sound is gone, the car feels better, and I’ll bet I even get better mileage!!!
What to look for:
check the discs with an infrared thermometer. If the one on one side is a lot hotter than the one on the other side (same end), suspect a sticky caliper.
To verify, first elevate the wheel and spin it by hand. You should feel the drag. If your disc in question has the little parking brake shoes, take the wheel off, swing the caliper up, and spin the hub. If it drags, you’re going to want to check your parking brake too. Then check the pads. If the pad set on a given caliper is not worn evenly, you probably have a sticky caliper. In truth, you’ll probably have already verified it when you compressed the caliper to open it up, but anyhow…
Post the results.
The sound did not start for several days after the tear down of the brakes on the passenger side. Based on condition of the pads and rotor and the newness of the caliper I would say it is not the brakes. I also checked for heat and the wheel was not hotter than normal after stopping and there was no smell of burning brake pads.
I am headed to the dealer for tires and an alignment this morning and I will have them take a peek while they have it and let you know what they find.
The dealer found nothing. The bearings are fine, shafts and CV joints are good, and the brakes look fine. All caliper bolts are tight and the mechanic could not see anything obvious that was causing the issue. Because the AutoZone rotors I installed 20,000 miles ago are pulsing my guess is that I have a runout issue that is starting to cause my noise when I am coasting. New rotors and pads going in this weekend so we will see what happens.
what happened after you put everything in? sound go away?
You are commenting on a 4 year old thread .
Well, actually, the new pads and rotors did the trick!!!
I’m having the same issue with my 2008 Pontiac g6 I just put on new wheel bearings on it and replaced the pads and rotor. Rotor and pads are not new just good enough to drive on. My girlfriends uncle thinks I might have over tightened the axle nut. But I don’t think that is the problem