I haven't posted in a while but here it goes... I noticed that my car was making a "metal-on-metal" grinding sound when I would brake as well as make a squeak when going speeds of 30mph or slower (sounds like a squeak every wheel rotation..the slower I'm going, the slower the squeak and vice versa). This is with the stock GSR wheels on it. I have a set of summer wheels and tires which I used this summer. I swapped to the GSR wheels and that's when the sound started. I have not switched back to see if the noise would stop yet because of the what the dealership told me. I brought my car into the dealership to have the Steering Wheel Angle Sensor replaced and asked if they could check it out.

What they told me was utterly insane. They said that my right rear wheel was bent, the hub was bent, the rotors were warped, the wheel bearing was bad, and my brake pad was bad. And that it was the result of an impact from INSIDE of the wheel (they were kept in my garage all winter). When I asked how they came to the conclusion, they said they put the car on the rack and spun the wheel.

Does this sound fishy to anybody else? Could it be the result of a bad alignment? My biggest concern is that the dealership said that none of this would be covered under warranty due to the "impact on the wheel".

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Darren

 

Well, if the wheel shows a wobble when rotated, it could be a bent wheel and/or hub, and, if you have been driving with a blown hub, that can eat up a brake-pad, so their story is internally consistent. Did they let come into the shop area and see?

If not, lift that corner and spin the wheel. If it really shows a wobble, swap the wheel and repeat. If both wheels show a wobble, then that looks bad for the hub. If the first wheel also shows a wobble on a different corner of the car, then that looks bad for the wheel. Alternatively, sometimes a bend in a wheel is obvious to see without testing.

Note: the one thing about their story that bugs me is this: if they didn't repeat their test with a different wheel, how do they know if it's the hub or the wheel or both? Yes, the eaten-up brake-pad is a strong hint that the bearing is bad, but I'd verify this before telling a customer that he or she is about to spend a pile of money.

 

Thank you for the response. They had the car off the lift before I got back and they don't let you into the work area either. I forgot to mention that in my first post that I took the brake pad out to see when I got home (220 mile drive) and there was at least 70% left on the Magic Pads (thats a low guess too compared to my stock pads which I ran for awhile).

I will try to spin the wheel in back and then rotate to see as you mentioned and see the outcome when I get home from leave. Thank you again.

Darren

 

Did you check both pads? A dying hub often only eats one of the two pads. And how do the pads compare to those on the opposite side? That's the real issue.

If your steering sensor was bad, by any chance was the AYC engaged all the time? Did you drive the car with the funky S-AWC display showing? Did it show the tilted display indicating AYC action? I'm asking because, if you drove for many miles with the AYC active, that would chew up one side in the rear. If nothing else, it would eat the brake pads on one side if you didn't hold the ASC button for three seconds to turn off the single-wheel braking.

 

Yes, both pads were checked. They look exactly the same as the opposite side as well. I am not sure if AYC was engaged the entire time. I just had the ASC service required warning light. I could not switch between snow, gravel, or tarmac and I couldn't change my traction control at all. If held the display button down, it would simply exit out of the warning but leave the service require light illuminated and come back on the display when I started the car. When I pulled the code from my Cobb, I would get the code for Steering Wheel Angle sensor (C1219). I hope this is making sense.

Darren

 

Yes, that makes sense, and if you had that warning light, then the entire system was shut down, so there's no way for the single-wheel braking to eat the pads, anyway.