Grinding noise

[Guest]

I was involved in a 1 car accident on I-25 (75+mph) on Tuesday. Some woman in a burgundy Expedition wasn't turning sharp enough and began to come into my lane. I reacted and locked up the breaks ( impressive with ABS, but not impossible with the condition of my rear drums) I fishtailed in two lanes before I slid it sideways about 50 feet down the grassy median, which I figured was better than a metal guard rail or someone elses car.  The sideways sliding took the driverside front tire off its outer bead. I threw on a spare, filled out the accident report and drove the car home... limping it the whole way.

I mounted up my GTZ wheels since one of the Z26 wheels is possibly ruined. Now when I am accelerating there is a grinding noise coming from the front driverside. I sincerely doubt it is the brakes, I have no reason to suspect anything CV related. My guess is the wheel bearing. The noise is mostly between 0-15 MPH and doesn't exist at all during some turning angles, which confuses me greatly. I was going to start tearing things apart later today, but I want to have some idea what it could be. I already jacked up the car and had a good look around when I changed the wheels. I couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. I am also confused because after taking it for a spin nothing was warmer than usual. Normally the metal on metal of a bad bearing will heat things up quickly.

The rattling noise I am sure is one of my motor mounts, and I had it going over bumps before the accident, it just got worse. ÂÂÂ

I would appreciate any advice you can throw my way, because if its not a bearing, I am baffled.

[Guest]

Make sure the dust guard (the tin plate behind the rotor) didn't get bent and is rubbing your rotor

[Guest]

Oooh... good call. Weather is terribly crappy right now, so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

The car in question is a 95 Z26, so of course it has the 3100. I will be sure to check that.

[Guest]

Let me know what you find out

[Twitch21]

Heh, 1 car accident. I slid on some ice and picked off a curb nicely to bend my axel bust my rim, pop my tire and ruin my brakes on the front driver side.

(Sorry for the off topic, but I feel your pain)

[Guest]

If you have any pics of the can that would be awsome!

[MAJ28]

The knuckle could be bent...  unfortunately it's pretty hard to tell, it may look straight, but the slightest bend can be a big problem.  How does the steering feel?  Make sure your tierod isn't bent (more then it should be.)  So you slid sideways, passenger side first?  Ok.  At that speed it's very easy to bend a knuckle, tierod and a few other things.  My advice would be to do the knuckle, bearing and tierod all at once, since you'll have it taken apart.  I had a vehicle hit my yellow Indy going about 20mph, hit my wheel directly and I needed a knuckle, tierod and power steering rack.

Get the knuckle from a junkyard, GM will r--- you.  If you can't find one, www.car-part.com.  I think a tierod (from GM) is in the $6x.xx range.

»Jason

[Guest]

Well I cleaned the heck out of the under carriage, and nothing. It still grinds. I lifted the front end in the air and rotated it by hand and it was grinding, it has no additional wear on the rotor or pads. The handling/steering is fine. still walks a straight line with no hands.
   It does seem more "loose" or squirrelly but that is probably because the tires I am using are bald as hell directionals( going the rightway) The car actually slid driverside first. I slid into a milemarker with the D side fender. If its the knuckle, how important is it that I remedy it immediately. I am planning a 3400 swap in the near future with possibly a new steering rack and definately a 91-93 GT subframe (poly rules!)
  I would much rather do it all at once with the motor out and the subframe coming out too.... I will be pulling the subframe from a JY so I could grab other pieces while I am there

[gtuturbo]

Your tire came off the wheel in grass. That seems like it would take an excessive amount of axial/thrust loading to make it occur; probably more than the wheel bearing is designed to handle.

I would check your wheel bearings for any axial endplay (back and forth), if your going to take apart everything else on that side.

[Guest]

By back and forth do you mean an in and out motion or a side to side? Should I take the wheel off and test by grabbing onto the studs? I am going to have more motion that I should either way, just because almost all of my bushings and such up front are toast... especially being a 95 with the vertical mounts

[Guest]

Another way to tell is w/ a stethascope. Take the wheel off and spin the bearing with the stethascope on the knuckle if it's grinding you'll hear it in the stethscope. I know advance and auto zone sells em for like 10.00. Come to think of it auto zone may rent them.