Name that fault - squeaky wheel

[lapin_windstar]

Hi there

'95 Windstar. There's a squeak coming from - I believe - the front passenger side wheel. Symptoms/behavior: It squeaks once every time the wheel rotates. When I steer to the left, it gets quieter. When I brake, it gets much quieter. It's been around from the while and if it weren't for the noise, I wouldn't know it was there - there's no vibration/ shudder/ pull to one side etc.

I don't think it's a gently stuck brake caliper, because there was no change after I greased the pistons when I changed the pads, but maybe I'm wrong.

Could it be a bearing that needs replaced? And if so, does anyone have any guesses for what that might cost? (I think that's out of my competancy).


Thanks, as always, in advance...

[RickMN]

Well, let's see, you greased the slide pins (I hope you didn't grease the piston) and you put in new pads. The squeak is once per rotation, so that would narrow it down to either a wheel bearing, CV joint, or possibly a scraping of the dust shield. But the fact that it changes when you turn left leads me to suspect a bearing--except that bearings usually don't squeak when they're going bad. They rumble. One other question, did you change rotors or reuse the old ones? If you reused, you may have a rust ridge on the inner and outer edges that are causing the noise.

[lapin_windstar]

Ahh, that's interesting - I did *not* replace the rotors when I replaced the pads, and what's more the car was parked for over a year before I got it, so there was quite a bit of rust around the rotors. The area around the rotor where the pad touches is of course now rust-free and unpitted, but I bet there's still a rust ridge around the very outer edge of the rotor now.

Would a cautious sanding down of the outer rust ridge generally be a good idea?

[RickMN]

If you're sanding the rust ridge, you really don't have a lot to lose. But, it's really not "by the book."