Something scraping on Geo when turning...help!

Hey guys,

So as of late, my 1994 Geo Prizm has started to develop a problem. Whenever I turn right, I hear a scraping sound that sounds like it's coming from my axle-area (although I haven't been able to decipher which side). It's kind of hard to describe but it sounds like the scraping is a specific part on a wheel so that the sound loops over and over at equal intervals if that makes any sense.

Does anyone know what might be wrong? I know there is a really slim chance that any one will know what's wrong with this very, very limited information but just thought I'd ask. Currently, with my job, I'm located in a fairly rural area with no mechanic in sight and unfortunately I am not car-savvy enough to figure out the problem. ANY advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

get under there and look for anything that looks like it's been rubbing.. then use a sawzall/hammer/whatever to remove whatever it is..

unless, of course, you actually like the car- they figure out how to make it so whatever it is doesn't rub any more.

Inner fenders loose, I'd bet. Missing screws will do that.

Maybe really bad CV axles? If its more of a popping, than a grinding, I'd think its the CVs.

I forget if those had dust shields on the front rotors in 1994, but if it does, it could be that. One other thing to consider is check your brake pads. I know when my old one wore them down enough, the caliper wouldn't fully retract, and when it turned, there was enough lateral force to put the rotor on the pad so it sounded like it was scraping. Good news is, brakes are about the easiest thing on earth on the front of these. Screw the back, drums have too many springs and clips and other arcane voodoo.

My guess is bad bearings. They let the rotor wobble and contact the caliper. Jack it up and see if you can move the wheel. You can also sometimes tell by watching the axle nut while you wiggle. A bad bearing will look like a loose axle nut.

+1 for bad wheel bearings.

Brake pads and rubbing dust shields are possibilities as well.

Just being cranky, but how is this off-topic on GRM?

Way too many automobile related posts get started & left in off-topic. Off-topic is for GGA, non-car related tattoos & piercings, arms deals, bladed weaponry, non-car related electronics, pet stories, and non-car related actual news articles...

In reply to Secretariata:

I think some are thinking the vehicle needs to be performance to not be off topic. Not true.

I put my stereo thread in here because sound systems are usually the first thing to go and the last thing to be upgraded on performance cars

N Sperlo wrote: In reply to Secretariata: I think some are thinking the vehicle needs to be performance to not be off topic. Not true.

Yea, pretty much this. I was not aware that this could have been in the main sub-forum and will keep that in mind with future posts.

So...I checked out the wheel wells and didn't see anything that might be causing the scraping.

I watched a few YouTube videos on what a bad wheel bearing sounds like and none of them really sounded like the problem that I have. Most of those seemed to be a constant kind of rumbling sound while mine is a much more looping sound (pause, scrape, pause, scrape, pause, scrape, etc.) if that makes any sense.

I'm going to see if my buddy can shoot a quick video of me driving in a circle so that you guys can hear what it sounds like and I'll try to post it.

Also, I had my mechanic friend take a look at the car ~2 months ago and he said everything looked fine. I specifically asked him about the brake pads and he said they had plenty of life left in them.

pause scrape pause scrape, is it wheelspeed sensitive? Almost sounds like a warped rotor.

It changes from a deep, low-sounding scrape at low speeds to a high-pitched whistle at higher speeds.

Also, not sure if this matters but this just happened out of the blue. It wasn't like I was off roading or I hopped a curb or something.

So here are two videos I shot that hopefully will help you guys with your diagnosis. The first is from inside the car, you'll have to ignore the rattling of the interior of my car but you can hear it well around 0:05 - 0:06. You can hear it okay in the second video as well when the car drives by the camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wryQb7SKZvo&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD0NkxpZZ5o&feature=youtu.be

it's metal on metal for sure. The pitch change with wheel speed.... do you notice any pulsating/shuddering under braking?

Damn, something's rubbing good. Sounds to me as if a brake backing plate is making SERIOUS contact with a rotor, but I'm listening on a phone, so what good am I?

mndsm wrote: it's metal on metal for sure. The pitch change with wheel speed.... do you notice any pulsating/shuddering under braking?

To be honest it kind of sounds like some sort of pneumatic sound. That sounded better in my head but that's really the best way I know how to describe it. I'm sure it probably is metal on metal though.

And I don't notice any pulsating/shuddering under braking. My car shudders when I'm coasting but I've had that for a while now, since before this noise started happening.

ValuePack wrote: Damn, something's rubbing good. Sounds to me as if a brake backing plate is making SERIOUS contact with a rotor, but I'm listening on a phone, so what good am I?

If a brake backing plate is rubbing with a rotor...how much trouble am I in?

BattlePope wrote:

mndsm wrote: it's metal on metal for sure. The pitch change with wheel speed.... do you notice any pulsating/shuddering under braking?

To be honest it kind of sounds like some sort of pneumatic sound. That sounded better in my head but that's really the best way I know how to describe it. I'm sure it probably is metal on metal though. And I don't notice any pulsating/shuddering under braking. My car shudders when I'm coasting but I've had that for a while now, since before this noise started happening.

ValuePack wrote: Damn, something's rubbing good. Sounds to me as if a brake backing plate is making SERIOUS contact with a rotor, but I'm listening on a phone, so what good am I?

If a brake backing plate is rubbing with a rotor...how much trouble am I in?

depends.. how much is a new set of brake pads, a rotor, and a caliper for that model?

novaderrik wrote:

BattlePope wrote:

mndsm wrote: it's metal on metal for sure. The pitch change with wheel speed.... do you notice any pulsating/shuddering under braking?

To be honest it kind of sounds like some sort of pneumatic sound. That sounded better in my head but that's really the best way I know how to describe it. I'm sure it probably is metal on metal though. And I don't notice any pulsating/shuddering under braking. My car shudders when I'm coasting but I've had that for a while now, since before this noise started happening.

ValuePack wrote: Damn, something's rubbing good. Sounds to me as if a brake backing plate is making SERIOUS contact with a rotor, but I'm listening on a phone, so what good am I?

If a brake backing plate is rubbing with a rotor...how much trouble am I in?

depends.. how much is a new set of brake pads, a rotor, and a caliper for that model?

Pads and rotors is like 50 bucks on Rockauto- I just did a set on my 99. Calipers are dirt cheap as well. But yeah, if you're down to a backing plate, you've got some work ahead of you.

I also forgot to mention that this only occurs when I turn right. If I'm driving straight or turning left, it's fine. Other than the noise, the car drives fine. If I couldn't hear the noise, I wouldn't know anything was wrong.

Also, just wanted to clarify when I said the car "shuddered" in the above post...I was just referring to how the dash kind of vibrates when I'm coasting. You can here it in the first video I believe.

After watching the vids I think it's most likely a scraping backing plate. Worn wheel bearings don't sound so hollow.

GameboyRMH wrote: After watching the vids I think it's most likely a scraping backing plate. Worn wheel bearings don't sound so hollow.

Okay, that seems like the general consensus. Two questions:

1) Could someone who has little to none experience working on cars fix this problem? Or is this something I should be taking to a shop?

2) If I drive on it anymore, is this going to like magically blow up in my face? Kind of an odd question I know but the earliest I could probably take it to a mechanic is next week sometime and I need it before then for work around here (I wouldn't be driving it very far or hard). Also, the closest mechanic is about 40 miles away so I have to drive that too. Do you think it'll be okay? Or should I stop driving it immediately before something even more serious happens?

I know the situation isn't ideal...I wish I didn't have to drive it at all and I wish I had the experience and know-how to be able to fix this on my own but it's what I'm stuck with unfortunately.

It won't cause anything too serious, it sounds a lot worse than it is. It'll wear away at the backing plate and possibly the rotor but I imagine it would take at least a year of DDing like that to cause any meaningful damage.

If you have little to no experience I'd take this to a shop, you'll have to remove the brakes and wheel hub on that corner to get to the backing plate, unusual tools you'll need are a torque wrench, impact gun, and big-ass cheater bar (don't fool yourself).

EDIT: I have no experience with this particular car, so heed GameboyRMH's notes on the job...

If it's the brake backing plate, it's probably not going to cause any immediate problems before you can get it sorted.

Of course, figuring out whether that's actually the problem is closely related to fixing it.

It should be pretty easy to see once you have the front up on jackstands and have the wheel off (I would guess it's more likely to be the left wheel since it happens turning right, but it could be the right one).

There's a sheetmetal cover that is there to try to protect the brake rotor from splashes and so forth. Look for a spot that's too close to the rotor.

One more note about wheel bearings: Folks who've suggested them were, I think, suggesting that they allow the wheel to move and make contact with the backing plate. While failing bearings themselves often make that rumbling sound, excessive movement of the wheel could be an indication of bad bearings even if the only sound is this scraping. I suspect this car has no means of adjusting the bearings, so if they allow too much wheel movement, that's failed bearings.

Sorry for all the text. In summary:
If it's the backing plate scraping, it's either because the wheel is moving too much (bad bearings), or because the backing plate has gotten too close to the rotor (so that the small amount of "normal" flex allows it to make contact).