Hi all,

The other day, I noticed a scraping coming from the front driver-side wheel area. The scrape is proportional to the car's speed (more frequent as car goes faster). It seems to get louder from 0 - 65mph and then subsides (almost disappears) around 70+ mph. That said, I also noticed side-to-side vibration on the front end of the car at highway speed. The vibrations reduced a little when I turned to the right slightly, although the toe alignment is also off (drifts to the left).

I'm not sure if the noise, vibrations and alignment issues are related, but I'd like to get some ideas on how to start diagnosing the problem. The axle and tie rod boots look fine, and there isn't any grinding/clicking that would indicate problems with the ball joints either. I'm wondering if the wheel bearing might be bad? I'm not sure how to check though.

 

A bearing will make a rumbling noise. The first thing I'd look at with scraping with speed is the splash shield behind the rotor. You may just need to push it away from the rotor where it is close.