strange moaning/rubbing noise?!

[kevmac858]

great title i know but its really whats happening haha. Pretty much I did my first relatively long distance drive with my car since I bought it: a whopping 108 mile trip up to my college for the year. The trip went great until about the last 10 miles when my car started to make a strange groan/moan/rubbing noise coming from the right front wheel area. It happens when driving straight and then when you change the wheel/tire direction slightly, it normally goes away. This started on tuesday and since then has intermittently come up during the 4 times i have taken it out. it doesn't shake the car or anything but it just kind of scares/annoys me.

background info (all done within the last 2 weeks):
just got new tires/alignment,
also had oil and power steering fluids completely redone,
all v-belts replaced,
there was a problem with one of the two steering column bolts being completely off so that was replaced.

idk if there is any other way i can describe it but its concerning to me. i would appreciate it if you could throw any ideas my way with what it could be because i have no idea. could be already discussed on another thread, any help would be great thanks!

[AndrewBird]

Have you pulled the pull off an taken a look? Could be as simple as the inner fender liner rubbing the tire.

[dnguyen1963]

Jack the front up then rotate the tires...you should be able to tell whether the noise is coming from the tires.

[kevmac858]

alright i'll look into both of them. i honestly haven't looked into it, not alot of time or room in my apartment parking lot and getting back into the whole school thing so i'll take a bit to look at both of them. thanks!

[kevmac858]

so my roommates and i went for a drive today and we have concluded that it most likely has to do with the brakes. when i took it in for an alignment earlier they said the brakes would need to be replaced soon but they indicated it would be in the next year or so but i'm guessing this would be the main reason. might spray some brake cleaner on it and see if it stops but i doubt it will :/

[Onizukachan]

could be wheel bearings too.

[Wild Ride]

so my roommates and i went for a drive today and we have concluded that it most likely has to do with the brakes. when i took it in for an alignment earlier they said the brakes would need to be replaced soon but they indicated it would be in the next year or so but i'm guessing this would be the main reason. might spray some brake cleaner on it and see if it stops but i doubt it will :/

I wouldn't trust the alignment shop telling you you need brakes. This picture is of your brakes when I went through the car.



As you can see the pads are very close to the thickness they come new. Oceanside Motorsports also noted the brakes were good new in their ppi. It might be a noise attributed to the brakes or wheel bearing but the pads and rotors are in good shape. My last set of brakes and oem equivalent pads lasted 4 years of street driving. I hope this helps you narrow it down.