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Strange sound coming from car today


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Been awhile but I have a question to ask. Something unusual happened today when I was driving. I went over a rough patch on the road and then I noticed my car was making a strange noise....sounded kinda like a scratching/scraping of metal sound coming from possibly near the wheels? It sounded like the screeching sound of trains on the tracks.  I went outside and took a look around and nothing that I could see was damaged or sticking to the wheels. It's pretty embarrassing when other people look at you cuz they hear this loud annoying screeching/scraping sound of metal coming from your car. Interestingly, it didn't make that noise when I went in reverse, only forward. Nothing else was wrong with the car per se...no vibrating, physical changes to the feel of the car, just a noise. I couldn't drive faster than say 20 km/h cuz I was really unsure if I might damage something more. I parked for about 10 minutes and when I came back, the sound disappeared. The only change I made was that I turned on the AC. When I turned the AC off, the sound didn't come back either. Still not sure what it was. Should I get it checked out? I drove home about 20 km and the sound never came back....seems like it's fine now? Any ideas what it could be?

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On 7/1/2017 at 4:05 AM, cornflakes said:

Been awhile but I have a question to ask. Something unusual happened today when I was driving. I went over a rough patch on the road and then I noticed my car was making a strange noise....sounded kinda like a scratching/scraping of metal sound coming from possibly near the wheels? It sounded like the screeching sound of trains on the tracks.  I went outside and took a look around and nothing that I could see was damaged or sticking to the wheels. It's pretty embarrassing when other people look at you cuz they hear this loud annoying screeching/scraping sound of metal coming from your car. Interestingly, it didn't make that noise when I went in reverse, only forward. Nothing else was wrong with the car per se...no vibrating, physical changes to the feel of the car, just a noise. I couldn't drive faster than say 20 km/h cuz I was really unsure if I might damage something more. I parked for about 10 minutes and when I came back, the sound disappeared. The only change I made was that I turned on the AC. When I turned the AC off, the sound didn't come back either. Still not sure what it was. Should I get it checked out? I drove home about 20 km and the sound never came back....seems like it's fine now? Any ideas what it could be?

 

Could be some debris got stuck under the car. The item was stuck going forward, but when the car moved in reverse, it could have dislodged from the car.

 

Something similar happened to me  on my 1964 Corvair Monza. I was driving on unlighted part of Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, around 10 pm and it was pitch dark. There was a section of the road under repair with modified lanes with pylons. One of the rubber pylons had fallen and rolled to the middle of lane, which I saw at the very last second, and could not avoid it and drove right over it. It was a rubber pylon so did not make much noise when I hit it, and the car drove normally. When I got home and parked the car, I inspected the under-carriage for any possible damage. Holy chihuahua, the whole pylon, about 2 feet long and 9" wide at base, was still stuck under the car! Luckily nothing was damaged and the car behaved normal after removing the pylon.

Edited by Bobby MSME
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I have had that noise on 3 cars last year , for me it's always a tree branch stuck under the car . It's disconcerting when it happens as it sounds like a  metallic scraping noise . Sometimes it cones free on its own other times I have  had to go under the car to dislodge it . 3 cars this year but it happens to me on any given year . Picked up one in a parking lot once too .

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  • 1 month later...

Well the sound went away shortly after all on its own!  I'm 99% sure now after doing some research that it was some object that got caught inside my brake wheels....it rolls around in their or scraped with my brake disc but it must've came out or got dislodged...thank goodness, it was a very embarrassing noise.

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14 hours ago, cornflakes said:

Well the sound went away shortly after all on its own!  I'm 99% sure now after doing some research that it was some object that got caught inside my brake wheels....it rolls around in their or scraped with my brake disc but it must've came out or got dislodged...thank goodness, it was a very embarrassing noise.

Most embarrassing car sound was loud clanging sound from the gorgeous 1964 Cadillac Eldorado Coupe borrowed from my boss on a vacation. I was at a nice resort hotel for several days, and people were staring at my car every time. After a few days, I located the source of noise was from left rear wheel. I removed the wheel  cover, and there were 2 lug nuts loose in there! My boss had new tires installed for me before handing me the car, and the mechanic was obviously careless. It was the most comfortable car I have ever rode in, it just glided through all rough spots without jostling you. 

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