The other day my 2000 2.5 ranger started making a funny noise like something was caught in a tire,,,when speeding up the noise gets faster with my speed,,checked the tires and I could not see anything nor did the tires lose any air,what else could cause this noise,,its really disturbing

 

Does it make the noise at speed with the transmission in neutral?

Is it metal on metal grinding, sliding noise or more of a rubber on metal noise?

Which tire? Front or rear? right or left?

What happened right before it started makeing the funny noise? Did you run over someone?

Is it a funny noise Hahaha or funny strange?

 

Use a floor jack and raise the front end and spin each tire and grab tire at top and bottom and check for any looseness or noise you are hearing. Jack up rear and block the front tires, put it in neutral and try the same thing. If noise is heard when rotating rear tires could be bad u joint.

 

It makes the noise in neutral and sounds like a rotating thud with the tire turning.Sounds like its in the front driver side,,,I notice when I brake it sometimes pulls to the left,could this be a clue its a rotor problem? truck has 110k on it and never had new or turned rotors

 

Did you check wheel for play by grabbing tire at top and bottom? Pull wheel and check for loose caliper mount, pads and wheel bearing play.

 

I tugged and pulled at the top and bottom of all the tires but they were all tight.spun the tires by hand couldn't hear anything unusal,will pull front tires off tomorrow and hope I can find something wrong if not my wallet be alot lighter because i will have to take it to a shop....

 

Check for a bulge on the tire, inbound side not the visible outbound side.

 

Well I was taking the tire off and noticed I could turn the lugnuts by finger,,don't know how they got that loose although could have been last time i took it off i used my socket set,from now on Lug wrench only!!!! Thank God thats all it was!!!!

 

I was gonna mention the lug nuts and forgot it. I had a same thing happen with my car . You are lucky you investigated , found it and corrected it before you had a runaway tire/wheel . Not a good thing while driving on highway.

 

Yeah it was a scary sound that I couldn't let go,, thanks for all the help.....