Just heard a strange rubbing noise on my truck on the way home. Everytime I pass a cement barrier or something that reflects sound I hear a rubbing noise. Not really a squeak persay. not sure if it's the front or the rear. Seems to be coming from mainly the right side of the vehicle. Bearings you think? No new sounds or funky feels other than that. Thanks.

 

bearings would make a roaring noise that increases with speed. what does your tires look like? any cupping or unusual wear?

 

No roaring noise. Tires are okay. This is more of a high pitched rubbing. Doesn't sound entirely metallic. I'm not sure where to go.

 

had you had brakes done lately? you may have a dust plate contacting rotor, or if your pads are worn the backing plate on the pad couldbe hitting a ridge

 

The brakes were done by the dealer 2 months ago when I bought the truck. I looked, doesn't look like anything is making contact, and the rotors aren't ridged at all.

 

did you take the wheels off?

have you been off roading by any chance?

 

Nothing Excessive. but yes i was off road last weekend. mainly sand. no large hills. and no faster than 25 mph

 

you may have some sand caught somewhere. not much clearance on these wheels form the calipers. was it doing this before you went off roading?

 

No it wasn't. I was going down a particular sandy portion of trail headed towards my uncles place when I first heard it. Do you think I just need to take the wheels off, disassemble the caliper from the spindle and dust it out?

 

might be a good idea. if you have a pressure washer even better

 

Mine is a 2000 4x2, so I don't know if this would apply to yours. Your caliper, pads and rotor may be fine. The problem might be inside the rotor. If you have rear disc brakes, there's a set of shoes inside the rotor. These are your emergency brakes. I had a retaining clip come off the trailing shoe last week. This caused the shoe to **** out and rub on the inside of the rotor. It created a rubbing sound like your describing. Took me ten minutes to pull everything apart, reinstall a new clip and put it all back together.

 

Thanks. But unfortunately I have rear drum brakes (*GAG*).

 

I fixed it. The front brake pads were NOT MATCHED (stupid dealer), worn, heck the calipers weren't even bolted TIGHTLY. So basically, I replaced the pads with good matching pads and everything is fine again with no annoying noise. Thanks for the help everyone.