Okay, so I just got back from the movies and on my way home I heard a weird noise. It sounded like tire rub, and happened when I was coming to a stop, maybe the last 25ft or so. The truck makes no noise cruising down the road. The noise is definately rotational, and definately while braking. It doesn't make any difference whether I'm in gear or neutral. Tires are in good shape.

I haven't gone under to see if anything is going on, I'm feeling lazy right now . I was just wondering if anyone has ever had the same problem, and what was the cause. Thanks a lot everyone.

 

Brake wear indicators?

 

TC, are you talking about squealers? If so, no, this is not a little squeaky noise. This noise is like a tire rubbing a shock. Like a part of the tread is coming into contact with something. I should mention too, that my tires are 31s.

Thanks for the input TC. Any other ideas?

 

You could put grease or something on the inside of the tire and see where it scrapes off...

31x10.50 is stock - definitely shouldn't rub anywhere

 

bent rotors?

 

Although I haven't had the wheels off in a while, I suspect the braking components are okay. New loaded calipers and new rotors were installed about 10K ago.

 

Do you have those brake dust sheilds? Maybe one of those is damaged and rubbing the rotor?

 

A tire rubbing noise, huh? The only time I've experienced a tire rubbing noise (that wasn't related to tires) was when a driveline u-joint was going out. I would imagine that a wasted cv-joint could make the same noise. If a u-joint is worn out, it's noise/vibration will occur under accleration or deceleration (depending on the damage/wear).

You might want to take a look at your tires for cupping. If your shocks are failing, cupped tires can also cause an odd vibration.

 

Well, I don't think I have any damage to the dust shields. I would also think that would cause more of a constant grinding, which I don't hear. I will certainly check though.

CL, I think you're on the right path. The more I think about it, the more I think it has to be my tires either directly or indirectly. I'll take a careful look. I don't however think my problem is related to a u-joint. I'm not getting any road vibrations either during accel or decel. Also, while in neutral and coming to a stop I still hear the noise. Granted, the driveline is still turning in this last case, but load is minimal. Regardless, it's worth checking out the driveline.

I have manual hubs and they are freewheeling, and I'm in 2wd, so I don't think my cvs are the culprit. I would suspect more of the clicking in corners noise for bad cvs.

Well thanks for the ideas everyone. I'll go out tomorrow sometime and post back with what I find.

 

I got some sage brush lodged inside the CV boot on our 92 chevy a few years back while hunting, it had symptoms similar.

 

I am having a similar noise and suspect my rotors or a bad caliper. I also just installed new rotors and shoes (from Napa) just 8 months ago and had a questionable caliper then (had to beat it open with a hammer to get the shoes in). I am also experiencing some wobbling/pulling to the opposite side of the rotor that is suspect to be bad. I am planning of tearing everything down in the next few weeks, if I find anything I will let you know. If you work on it before then let us know, maybe you can save me some work.

 

The first symptoms my U-joints gave me when they started to fail was noise and vibration upon coasting. If I had any throttle into it they would not make a peep but when I would let off the gas it would start to make those noises. Granted, eventually they started to make noise all the time and I basically replaced them just before they fell off.

 

I have had those type of noises. Turned out to be the mud flaps hitting the tires. Only did it when the wind was blowing the right direction and I was stopping.