Houston rain and terrible wheel noise

Hello everybody. I live in Houston and drove through some high water today - nothing crazy, I checked my route before I left but I probably drove through about 9-12" of water. Anyways, my front right wheel is now making a noise, that is cyclic with wheel speed, and the noise it makes sounds like a train that is coming to a stop. Like a metal on metal type of noise. Any guesses as to the problem? Wheel bearing? CV joint?

 

sounds like wheel bearing.

This is what happens when you take "sealed" bearings and dunk them in water.

 

First rule out that there is no debris in/around the brake pad on that side, maybe btwn pad and rotor where it's invisible, or in any area. Easily could have jammed in just about anything when braking under water. May have to pull the tire for full view. Wouldn't drive it until a full inspection.

 

Ok, I'll take the wheel off and check. Hopefully I find some crap...and it's not the wheel bearing. But my hunch is that it is the bearing.

 

Check the dust shield behind the rotor. Might have bent it and caused it to rub on the rotor.

 

Seems awful quick for a wheel bearing to start failing due to water. Figure if the seal failed enough to contaminate the grease it'd happen over a few weeks or longer and the sound would build. But there are alot of places around the splash/dust shield, pad, caliper for trash to work its' way in. If u dont see anything, maybe a few hard-reverse brakes will dislodge any trash but check visually first.
Also if there is something hitting the rotor, check with flashlight at various angles, inside and out, and you may see a 'scar' or radial mark on the rotor giving an hint where debris might be hiding.

 

I failed to mention that when the noise occurs, it's intermittent - not sure why. With the trucked jacked up, I rolled the wheel and noticed just the slightest metal rubbing noise. There was no slop in the wheel when pushing/pulling it top to bottom so the bearing hasn't totally crapped out yet. I took the wheel off and didn't notice any debris, and the dust shield didn't seem to be making any contact. No scarring on the rotor. I took it for a drive and really didn't notice a noise now - so I'm not sure if this is going to be a ghost issue, or if the noise is for whatever reason much quieter now and will grow over time. I drove just a few blocks but hit the brakes hard hoping to work out any crap that may be in there.

If it grows or makes the pretty extreme train-slowing noise again, then off to the dealer it is. Are wheel bearings covered under warranty? I'm guessing no...

 

Interested to see what you find, and hope it works out. I made it out to help some people and back home. I'm learning the truck and what to expect in these conditions, overall all she performed well today. Had some persistent wet braking issues that everyone says is normal. This is some truly nasty flooding for Houston.

 

Sure, bearing are covered under warranty.

 

This damn rain sucks. I'm on the west side of town and my drive to work just got a whole lot crappier due to the closures on Eldridge and Hwy 6. Not to mention my house got flooded. No worries though, the Taco is just fine!

 

By now I'm thinking it had to have been the dust shield. When I took the wheel off, I adjusted the dust shield slightly - it didn't really look like it was hitting anywhere. But i don't notice the noise anymore and the dust shield is the only thing I can figure that would make such a LOUD shrill noise.

 

Sorry to hear about your house. the west side definitely took the brunt of the rain - up to 16". My area got about 7.

 

I you blast thought deep water a height rate of speed it is easy to bend the rotor dust cover. Slow and steady is the way to go.

 

Thanks. I have been carrying flood insurance for a few years so at least my home and contents are covered. Now I'm just hoping the insurance takes care of us. I'll find out today after I meet with the adjuster. Anyway, don't want to jack the OP's thread. Back to the high water cross and noise discussion!

 

Wheel bearings are a drive train warranty item.
Probably got some grit between pad/rotor embedded a bit in the pad. The calipers should clear debris trying to work between the pad/rotor on stops. Try some hard reverse stops (safely of course) to help work anything out. Gravity will allow anything loosened to fall out.

 

may need to remove caliper and inspect all around the pads and piston

unlikely a 'dry bearing' will grumble so soon after a water run, usually takes a lot more
miles for a bearing to bitch

but debris in the caliper can make any type of unholy banshee screech, grumble, or rumble