Lets play, WHAT IS THE NOISE!!!!!

OK, I know that some of you fellow mechanics have had a noise that you took a while to track down. This one did not take me long to find but it is the cause of the noise that surprised me. Sometimes the bumps, grinds, whistles, hums, pops and all the other endless descriptions of noises from customers are pretty straight forward and sometimes it is like they are in one place on the car and end up being in another. I will give the type of noise and what I did to troubleshoot it up to the point of finding it. Lets see if anyone can guess what it is and I will fill you in tonight with the problem.
OK here is the description of the noise I got from the lady that brought it in. The car is a 2007 Scion tC.
"My car makes a steady screech screech screech coming from the right front while I am driving"
OK, I get in the car and go for a test drive, and sure enough there is a rotational noise coming from the right front. Sounds like one of the stainless steel brake pad isolators is rubbing on the rotor. Very high pitched hollow sound. Maybe a backing plate but the sound is a higher frequency. I turn left and the noise goes away, I turn right and the noise gets louder. I think to myself "BINGO! has to do with the brakes or wheel barring" I get back to the shop and put it up on the lift, check to see if there is any play in the wheel barring and find none. I pull the right tire off the vehicle and start looking to see if the backing plate is close enough to rub and find it is in the correct position. I pull the caliper off the car to get a better look at the isolators and the top one is in a different position than the bottom one. Hmmmmmmmmm, so I pull the pads and take out the isolator and it is bent a little so I straighten it up and re install it. It fits just fine and I put the pads back in and install the caliper. Put the wheel back on and go for a drive to see if that fixed it, NOPE!!!!!!!!! still there just as loud as before. I take it back to the shop and have one of the guys drive the car slow by me while I listened for the noise. Still the high pitched squeal coming from the right front.
I take the car up to a large parking lot that I use to find problems such as this and start driving it around. I will squeal when I turn right forward and back up to the left. I take it back to the shop and go through the disassembly process again and find nothing. I take it back out the the parking lot and I find it.
So does anyone have any guesses as to what it was?
Lets see if you can guess.
I will check back from time to time today to see if anyone has guessed it.
Oh and the prize............. I know you guys like prizes. Lets see.......... I know, If the winner is in my area at any time then I will treat them to a big glass of sweet tea and a great BS session.

 

Something to do with the cv axle? or was the source of the problem coming from the driver's side?

 

E brake..

 

Neighbor's cat?

 

Bent rim rubbing on a strut?

 

I assume you checked the wear sensor on the disc pad.

 

is there a rock sheild on the the back side? check for lodged rocks

 

OK, no one has come close yet. And yes I checked for rocks and all foreign objects.
You guys are 0-6 so far. Keep up the good work.
I will post answer about 9PM.

 

Could it just be the tire on the hot asphalt ?

 

something stuck in the rim?

 

The problem was actually on the left side

 

I originally thought that you described an issue related to the hub bearing. Could the noise be related to the axel CV Joint or boot??

 

OK, time to let all you guys know what it was. There were some good guesses.
Well I went back up to the parking lot and was driving slow and the noise was there. I went to back up and when I stopped the noise continued. WTH!!!!!!!!! I started to back up and it went away. I backed up slowly and after a few times I got it to stop when making the noise. I set the brake and got out to see what it was and I looked on the inside of the wheel and the rim was bent a little. Just enough to let air out of the tire when the condition was right. Kinda like letting the air out of a balloon and making the squeak noise but on a much larger scale. So the noise was air escaping from between the wheel and bead making a loud metallic squeal.
Have a great night and thanks for playing.
By the way if any of you are in the area please stop by and have a glass of sweet tea. There doesn't have to be an occasion for that to happen.

 

Well I got 20 plus years in the trade and I'd have to say thats a first. Never ran into that one yet. Always something new and frustrating to track down isnt there?? LOL.

 

I have heard that sound and that is what it was. I would have thought the tire would have been low..
Sweet tea sounds great