Bumpy, grindy, expensive-sounding noises from the rear susp?

Post by **Moro** » 31 Jul 2004 02:39 pm

Greetings all:
Most of the time, my 360GLT is the quiet, docile, well-manered beast you would expect it to be. But on the rare occasions that I have any load in the back seat or boot area, any turn to the right results in a horrible grinding rubbing noise from the rear of the car, from the vicinity of the right rear wheel, I think. Now I'm not talking about washing machine-sized loads here; even my 4 year old daughter (who's tiny) will cause it to happen.
This happens at any speed, from walking pace upwards, and it doesn't have to be a right-hand corner - any slight deviation to the right will bring on the noise.
Once the back seat/boot is empty again the noise disappears.

Any suggestions?

Cheers!

Post by **Fuse** » 31 Jul 2004 04:32 pm

Our GL had similiar problems. When you turned right, there was knocking like sound coming from the right rear wheel. Noise was caused by, how you say it, well the bearing of the wheel was bad and it was causing the noise. My mechanic said that bearings should be fixed soon as possible, because if it breaks down (like it happened with our GL) it may break some other parts as well.

Post by **5lab** » 31 Jul 2004 07:46 pm

sounds like the bearings are loose rather tahn broken. jack the car up and spin the wheel (handbrake/gear off). if it spins smoothly, but has slight side-side play then they're just loose and need tightening. if they grind as they're going around then the bearings need replacing

Post by **KeithB** » 31 Jul 2004 10:08 pm

Yup! Wheel bearings, I'm very familiar with that noise. Here in Ireland it usually occurs on the left, this is due to the left hand wheels being on the kerb side of the road which is usually pitted, pot-holed and generally in a dreadful state, which is why we drive in the middle of the road!

Post by **Moro** » 01 Aug 2004 02:04 am

Thanks for the feed back everyone. And Keith, yes it was my mistake- we drive on the same side of the road as you and yes, the noise is from the left as I make a right hand turn. I wasn't confused about where the noise was coming from; just about knowing my left from my right!

I'll try the test for loose bearing before I get it replaced.

Thanks again all!