Scraping noise from front drivers wheel

After having my cabby for 6 months now and trying 2 different garages I've decided to give up on them and give it a go fixing it myself.

I have two priority tasks, one a starting problem that I'll post about in the relevant forum, and the second is a scraping sound coming from the front drivers side wheel.

I haven't driven the car much since buying it as it's spent most of it's time in the garage. The noise isn't always there, only under certain conditions. I didn't notice this scraping noise when I first got it, but after about 5 months in garages having work done I first noticed it going round a left hand corner at around 30 mph. The car was under moderate outward pressure on to the front drivers side wheel and a sound that I can only think to describe as scraping could be heard (my best guess was the wheel scraping on the wheel arch, but there's no evidence of this). A few miles further down the road there's speed bumps going the full width of the road and more like mini islands than bumps. As you go up the front side of the bump the scraping noise returns, then the bump plateaus for 1m - 2m before you go down the far side, and again going down the far side the noise returns. The noise also appears sometimes when going over bumps in the fine roads we have in this country.

Just before the noise started I had just picked up the car from the garage I was using at the time and they had replaced the front suspension struts/shocks (not sure what they're called ( ), but for whatever reason they didn't replace the springs.

I've just got the cabby back after sending it in for them to investigate the noise. This time I had them replace the springs, and also bushes and cv joints (steering felt loose, this looseness has gone now). After picking the car up this time the noise didn't appear immediately ( or at least I didn't notice it and it's normally fairly audible ). Later that day I was pushed over by an oncoming vehicle on to a mild speed bump at about 15mph - 20mph and heard the noise again. Since then the noise is clear with all the usual symptoms (except it's not as obvious when cornering).

So far my high tech methods of having a quick look was to check the tire for any obvious signs of scraping, and I can't see any. I've also just bounced the front end of the car and to me the suspension feels quite spongy (on both sides though).

As a final thought, when driving the car it feels like there's a hell of alot of feedback coming from even small bumps in the road. If you hit anything other than a minor hole in the road the car seems to take it quite hard. Not sure if this is me being spoiled by driving alot newer cars for the last 10 years or more or whether there is something wrong.

So, any thought's, or clues as to where to start looking? Off to Halfords later to start getting my tool collection together so I can play grease monkey )

Check the pads have the correct fittig kit or that i is missing.  Replace pads and fitting kit if necessary.
Cheers

rich

Sorry my my ignorance, but are you talking brake pads here or some pads I'm not aware of (not a grease monkey yet ( played very little with cars so far)

Brake pads fitted wrong by the sounds of it.
gold star to mr quiff the man is a genuis.

Dunno if this is fate but ive had my 89cabby for 3 months now and mines just started making the exact noise!

At first I thought it was just wheel bearing on way out but it sounds exactly like when pads are lightly scraping a disc (same sound as my mountain bike pads make when not fitted properly)

Ill have a looksee this weekend and see

I've just got my black Mk1 back on the road and its got new discs and pads, it does the same thing, on left hand bends there is a scraping noise just as if a pad has worn down and the metal is touching the disc. I have stripped the whole thing down twice and can see no sign of any metel to metal contact or anything else that could cause it, if you find out what it is let us know.

I'm no expert, but are the wheel bearings OK ?

If you jack up the car, grab the wheel at 6 & 12 o'clock & see if there is any play when you try to rock it. There should be none.  If there is, then it might be as simple as the big central nut not being tight enough.

I've had that effect on mine. If it's not perfectly tight, then the brake disc can move relative to the brake caliper & pads, so it will rub & start to squeak.

If it is tight, and I mean VERY tight, and you still have play when you try to rock it in & out, then suspect bearings.

Good luck.

Resurrecting this old post as I've never managed to resolve this issue. The car's been to 4 different garages now and still has the same original problem. There's note's in the first post about the details but in brief -

1. When cornering to the left scraping noise from front drivers side
2. When go over bumps, even slowly, scraping noise from front drivers side.
3. Suspension has been replaced with standard suspension and it didn't fix this.
4. Suspension has been replaced again, this time with coilovers, and still has same problem
5. 4th garage that had this spotted that the scraping side is at least partly the tyre catching the inside of the arch
6. After measuring ride height by measuring from wheel centre to the arch, with the coilovers set equally on the front, the drivers side ride height is 3/4 of an inch lower than the passenger side. So far have tried offsetting the drivers side by 3/4 of an inch on the coilover (this shouldn't be necessary should it?), but the ride height only changed by about 3/8 of an inch, so still 3/8 of an inch difference. Scraping noise still apparent
7. Throughout all this, and with original suspension and coilovers fitted, to me when driving the drivers side suspension feels softer, ie dips easier when cornering
8. Sometimes when driving her, if you release the accelerator sharply as the car jolts it sometimes feels like the front drivers side is kind of sliding backwards/forwards, if that makes sense. Can't always feel it though so wondering if this is my imagination. She doesn't get driven often due to the suspension problem, she's in for her MOT today and in the last year since the last one has probably only done 100 miles.

Anybody any ideas? I've just fixed the fuel starvation problem she had, just need this fixing now then have the body shop ready to take her in for a full respray. Want to know she's going to run ok before I spend that money though.

Tricky to resolve without hearing it.

I guess the garages have checked everything is tight.  If the wheel was scraping the arch it would be quite loud and you woudl get tell tale sign on the rim, tyre, wing etc where parts are touching.

I'd also check the the caliper is not sticking and that it is able to side freely on the guides.  When the pads were changed was there more wear on one pad than the other?

IMO don't think it is suspension causing the scrape but it does sound like you've got a dodgy shocker or spring problem.

Look at what you havn't replaced - also gearboxes can give funny noises.  I'd laso take the drive shaftout and check for tell tales wher it enters the bearing carrier.

Cheers

Rich

Definitely catching the arch. The inside of the arch is worn away abit and so is the outer edge of the tyre.

It's failed it's MOT today on 2 split cv boots and also because on full lock to the right the tyre catches the locking nut on the coilovers. The coilover needs raising anyway and the nut will clear the tyre then, but should the tyre be getting that close to the strut anyway?

One of my doubts is whether the alloys on the car are suitable. When I had the coilovers fitted the mechanic said something about the ET and the adjustment being at it's limit? Can't remember exactly and no idea what it means. The wheels are these if anyone recognizes them -



They have ET38 marked on them. I want to replace them with some BBS split rims eventually

I've had a quick play this morning. The ride height after driving the car to the MOT station yesterday had dropped further so it was just over an inch lower than the passenger side (I did drive it round the block after adjusting it on Sunday to let it settle, obviously didn't work).

Turns out we adjusted it the wrong way. We took the nut on the coilover down thinking it would release the spring lifting the car up. Coilover down means car down though, so I actually made it worse lol. Anyway, this morning I've taken it up. The drivers side is now sat about 1/2 inch higher on the coilover than the passenger side and the ride height is only about 1/4 of inch lower on the drivers side. I've quickly taken her round the block, which involves quite a few bumps in the road and loads of speed bumps and she was a hell of a lot better. One slight scrape when I hit a particularly bad pothole but that was it.

So, next question, is it normal, acceptable, to have one side compressed more on the coilover than the other? I would guess not, but it seems to work. I would have thought that having one side compressed more than the other would make one firmer than the other? When I was driving her yesterday though the drivers side did feel softer than the left (when I'd accidentally lowered it even further)

Those wheels are off a later Polo/golf I believe, and are likely to have an offset (ET) of 45, which is too deep for a Mk1, which should be 38, or even 35 or less if you have coilovers.

Edit - just saw that you stated they are ET 38. This is standard, but can still cause issues with tyres touching springs/seats

The higher the ET number, the further IN (Closer to the spring) the wheel sits, which is why your tyres are so close to the spring seats.
The mechanic has probably tried to compensate by adjusting the camber of the wheel to bring the edge of the tyre away from the spring seat. This would make the wheels sit incorrectly and could be the cause of it "Feeling wrong".

The fact that the noise is still present after two changes of suspension units, I'd say it was safe to rule them out.
You should not really have to adjust your coilovers to different heights to compensate for anything (unless you are fine tuning corner weights for race set-up!). If you are having to do this, something else is not right. Is it possible that you have different length/rate springs on the coilovers (unlikely if you bought a new set)?

Finally, and I'm surprised nobody has mentioned them yet, your strut top mount/s might need replacing, particularly on the side where the car sits lower. Having said that, it should have been picked up on MOT if that was the case?
Take a quick look at THIS THREAD to see what a good vs bad top mount looks like.