I’ve been experiencing a pretty annoying screeching noise coming from the front left tire of my car. It’s a bit strange – the noise appears when I start moving the car from idle, and then it comes and goes while I’m driving. Oddly enough, sometimes it just disappears altogether. The noise seems to be most noticeable when I’m reversing.
I took my car to a mechanic, and they took it for a spin. They mentioned it could potentially be related to the brake pads, but upon inspection, the pads seem to be in decent condition. The thing is, the mechanic didn’t actually hear the noise themselves. Lucky for me, I managed to capture the sound in a recording, which you can listen to here:
Your audio file is essentially useless as a diagnostic tool for a few reasons. A mechanic that could touch, see, smell and hear your vehicle couldn’t find the problem. How could we be expected to diagnose the problem with sound only?
And the bigger problem… you did not bother to tell us what kind of car, year, model, engine, miles.
+1 to Mustangman’s comments.
Additionally, I couldn’t get the sound file to play, but if there is a screeching noise coming from the left front wheel, the only possibilities (as I see them), are related to the brakes, the wheel bearing, or–depending on whether the mystery vehicle has FWD or AWD–a CV joint.
It also sounds like you had a backyard mechanic look at, it or you didn’t want to pay for a proper inspection/diagnoses… Your vehicle should have been racked and raised and the wheels removed to check everything out…
Another thing is next time is makes noise take it to the shop and ask someone to ride along with you, call 1st so they will be expecting it soon…
I assume an Audi has pins that align rear of pads in caliper and do not use the sst slide type guides that you see on American cars. I have had issues with the sst guides rubbing on rotors but that’s non Audi cars.
I’d guess something associated with that wheel is rubbing on something else. If removing the wheel doesn’t expose the culprit, and nothing weird going on behind the wheel like torn CV boots, the next step is the brake pads are probably going to have to be removed from the caliper. Suggest before going down this path to verify with certainty which wheel is making the noise. You might ask a helper to walk beside the car and listen while you are slowly & carefully backing up.
The scenario that Tester suggested is exactly what happened to me, with a rental Ford Tempo. While driving on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, a stone got lodged in the same place, and it made an awful racket until–finally–the rock shattered from (I suppose) the build-up of a lot of heat after ~6 hours of driving.
Weird problems seem to come w/rental cars for some reason. The check engine light is a frequent one for me w/rental cars, with no obvious associated problems other than the light being on. I just ignore it. Another rental car, I couldn’t open the trunk. Put stuff on rear seat instead. Yet another, I couldn’t turn on the headlights. Drove only during the day. Still another, couldn’t get engine to crank. Finally figured that one out, needed to step on brake pedal first. I presume VDC inspected the noisy area & saw the problematic rock, but had no way to dislodge it.
Yup, more or less. Actually, that car was so wretched that i was kind of hoping that it would break down, and that they would upgrade us to something better.
My ideas as suggested above … ask your shop pro to
Step 1. Verify the noise is actually coming from the front left wheel.
Step 2. Remove wheel for a look-see for any obvious rubbing, pebbles stuck in the wheel, etc.
Step 3. Remove brake caliper & brake pads for an even closer visual inspection, looking for something rubbing or interfering.
