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Hi, I have a problem with my Front RHS wheel - It makes a funny scraping sound, which gets worse when I am driving round left hand corners. I jacked up the car just now and the wheel turns, but makes a noise when it rotates, like the brake pad is permanently scraping on the disk or something. I have to drive home tomorrow (150 miles) and I don't want to drive unless I know its safe. The problem has got worse recently, as the scraping sound was like a quiet hiss to start with and now it has turned into a 'groaning' sound when turning left...
If anyone has any idea of what this might be and whether it is dangerous to drive the car in this state I would appreciate it very much!
THanks!

If you jacked the car up, than take the wheel off and inspect your brakes. You can see if your pads are worn and rubbing the rotor without taking the caliper off. Also is there any kind of vibration in your brake pedal when applying the brakes?

Nate

I am having the same problem but on the passenger side, i had a bad ball joint for a while and thought it may be a symptom of that, i changed it last weekend which didnt help. While doing that I noticed that the "M" shaped spring (the one that pushes the pads apart) was broken an figured that was the problem.

I bought a new one which came with the "slides"? the bolt looking things that the pads slide on, lubed them up and took it for a ride and the rubbing is still there.

Now the only other things i can think of is CV or wheel bearing. I changed this CV at the end of last summer fricken re-mans.

I have a new CV in my garage and am going to try it next wknd.

Wheel bearings, if they were bad you would get a rubbing sound all the time and not only when turning right?

I had a similar problem with the passenger side wheel - it turned out to be a rusted out heat shield that wedged itself against the rotor. Its behind the rotor - so you wouldnt see it if you just took the wheel off - you probably have to stick your head in there and look behind the rotor. I just bent mine out of the way and the rubbing/grinding stopped.

I was going to suggest the heat shield too. A bad wheel bearing sounds like a you are running over the same rock over and over and you can feel it in the steering wheel. A wheel bearing also usually makes the noise all the time, not just on left or right turns.

When my wheelbrearing when bad i first noticed it at high speeds taking semi hard turns. Enough to put a majority of the weight on the bearing. As it got worse and made the grind noise at low speeds (all the time) I couldn't tell the difference wether I was turning or not.

Check your pads and heat sheild like the others said. Maybe while youve got it up grab the top and bottom of the tire and try to rock/jiggle it. If its your wheelbearing you'll have some play, the more play the worse it is.

I would say your ok to drive on it, but if its the pads you may see problems with slowing down, so take that in to account.