Odd grinding sound on right front wheel

So I tried making the title the best I could for SEO purposes so people could find this thread in the future. I've been experiencing a grinding sound that varies with speed. It exists at low speeds and high speeds and it's scary as hell when I first experienced it on the interstate. At high speed (no I'm not driving it currently until it's fixed) it would feel as it the truck wants to pull left and right and you can hear a whomp-whomp-whomp as you drive along coming from the front passenger's wheel.

At low speed it's less pronounced but I still hear it.

Here's some history:

I have had this truck for 2 years and have never encountered a problem.

I changed the brakes and rotors 4 months ago as they were becoming warped and did it properly with correct torque settings and everything. Worked perfectly. No problems whatsoever.

Fast forward, I had my wheels balanced and rotated around 3 months ago to fix a slight vibration up front. Fixed it. Rode like glass

Had a flat tire 2 weeks ago (driver's front) and put on spare. I only bought 2 new tires from discount tire and they placed them on the rear (as they should) and brought the rear tires to the front.

EVER SINCE THEN, the problem has become more and more pronounced to the point that I will not drive the truck outside of the neighborhood. It exists at high and low speeds.

I took the truck back to Discount Tire thinking, hey maybe they just need to be balanced and it'll sort itself out. Nope. Made it worse. Of course they dont do any work to vehicles but it ruled out what I thought it was. At least they did it for free.

Last night I got home from a business trip and my neighbor picked me up. He has a pretty bad ass chevy in the parking lot that he wheels and I told him about my problem. He went over to the taco and kicked the tire that's having the issue and sure enough it sounded as if something was loose.

He had an issue on his truck that resulted

So here I am, truck in parking lot, just sitting. I jacked up the truck on passenger front and took the tire off and checked all the bolts. All were tight and, as far as I could tell, all of them were there.

There was a mark on the caliper where it looks like the wheel had been scraping on it. Here's a pic



So at this point I'm lost. I'm placed the wheel back on and drove it 20 feet and experienced the same sound. It's parked right now until I figure out what's going on.

Any thoughts?

 

Did you check for play in wheel before removing it, the wheel bearing could be bad or maybe a brake caliper sticking making it pull to one side, after driving check and make sure the wheel is not getting hot.

 

I had something similar happen to me...turned out my brake dust cover was rubbing...I was driving through heavy snow a couple days prior. It may sound like its too simple...but it's worth a check.

 

Op, did you have any type of spacers? If the caliper is now rubbing, maybe the previous owner had small (1/4" or so) spacers to clear the calipers. It's possible that when discount mounted them back on they forgot to put the spacer. Especially if it's rubbing the caliper when in never did prior

 

Bad wheel bearing possibly... put the tire back on and try to wiggle up and down, side to side, should be evident if it's worn that bad.

 

I haven't checked for play. From what my neighbor did last night with a kick sounds like that may be it. I'll have to wait until sunlight to recheck unless I can find my led head light.

I tend to overlook stuff like this. I'll put it on my list of things to check. Thanks.

The previous owner had washers installed with every lug nut. But when I took the tire off, they were there on each lugnut. I never came across a spacer on any wheel. It has to be something related to changing the front and rear tires. Because it never happened prior... maybe it did and changing the wheels around just pronounced it. I have no clue.

I'll check for some play tomorrow morning

 

Sounds like that's what needs to happen. I want to figure this out before I take a scary trip to the closest mechanic and walk away $500-$1000 lighter.

 

Washers? Behind the wheel on the stud or behind the actual lugnut?
There should be NO washers between the wheel and the mounting surface.

Are your wheels stamped steel or cast alloy?

 

When you jacked up the passenger side did you spin the wheel while it was still bolted up? Did that recreate the noise/ grind?

Also, washers in place of spacers isn't the safe. That means the mounting hub on the wheel does not sit flush. The washers have the same concept as a spacer but between each washer/ lug nut there is a gap where the wheel mounting hub isn't sitting flush as it should.

 

Judging by the pic...it looks like the whole wheel was moving...look at the scuffs on the roter, by the lug nuts...so I think it might have been a loose wheel.

 

Yeah the washers baffled me when I did the brake job but since they were on each wheel, I kept them on. I have no idea why the previous had them on. The washers sit between the lugnut and wheel. They are not between the wheel and the rotor.

Alloy??

I spun it as it was on a jack with the wheel mounted and it made a "normal" sound. Tried it with the driver's front tire and it made the same sound. Only when I drive it, it appears to show up.

I see what you mean. Its odd I feel like I'm putting the wheel on correctly as I always have. Maybe it is the washers

 

Could this be a affect from aftermarket roter not being as thick as factory ....hense makes the backspacing different...therefore it rubs the caliper and such?

 

The wheel in the pic is Toyota specific so the backspacing should be correct.
The washers may be the issue. Some older style rims used to use them, not sure about today. If your wheels have a tapered hole then the lugnuts should have a tapered end to match. Tapered is not the correct term, sorry, drawing a blank..
The lugnuts are what centers the wheel, the washers may be preventing this and causing the problem.
However the tire shop should have noticed if this was the issue and corrected it or mentioned it.

I really don't know if your supposed to have the washers or not with those wheels, it just caught my attention and raised a red flag.

 

I believe Toyota factory wheels are hub centric...that's what centers the wheel.

 

I believe you're right, my bad. Mine are lug centric so the mix up on my end.
Still, those washers?

 

Could be the wheels as we'll, those are not Tacoma wheels and may not clear the calipers. Worth a check......looking at your pic something looks like it's hitting caliper.

 

Here's the type lug nut i think you need
and this is the acron type like on most steel wheels
I think those are older highlander rims, not sure though.

 

the rotors I bought were these they've have been fine until I had my new tires put on the rear and the rear wheels brought to the front.

Thanks, yeah it's odd for sure. that's why Im here haha. I've never heard of washers on wheels before but like I said, I had them on before and didn't have a problem. I dont know why anyone would put washers on a wheel though.

Would new lugnuts without these damn washers prob do the trick? I dont want to have to get new wheels. They have been fine up until now.

 

So I jacked the truck up this morning and took the wheel off again. These are the washers that were on the lugnuts



As you can see, they are all different thicknesses. Wow, so this must explain it right? I took the washers off and remounted the wheel. There was so much play in the wheel with the lug nuts semi tightened, the wheel didn't even sit on the hub. Which makes me think the lug nuts aren't even made for this wheel; it's just what the guy had and he added washers.

Now with the washers, the wheel sits firmly against the hub and there is no play whatsoever when I test 12-6 and 3-9. I tried this before removing the wheel as well and got the same results.

What's funny is that I've had this truck for 2 years and have never had this problem until recently.

I remounted the wheel with the washers (since it wouldn't sit without them) and drove the truck again. Same thing the whomp-whomp-whomp grinding sound at low speeds.

I'm still clueless as to what the issue is exactly (I'm guessing lug nuts) and I have no idea where the sound is coming from either. These wheels were previously on the rear and I never felt anything.

Here's the lug nuts I'm using with one of the washers:



These are on every wheel

 

Why is there rust on the rotor? There shouldn't be any on there cause the brakes keep them clean.