You can hear it best from 0:40 - 0:48 seconds...


Had a dealer that I really trust look at it, diagnosed a bad rear rotor and the noise went away for roughly 5,000 miles so I thought that MUST have been it. Well, now the noise is back, only not as loud. I had another mechanic look at it and he said the noise is coming from the rear differential and quoted me $3200 to replace To me it sounds like the noise is on the "exterior" of the vehicle and not coming from an "internal" part. I will add it is intermittent, but happens frequently. 110,000 trouble free miles up until now. Any ideas?
All brakes are new, rear rotors are new, front rotors are original.

 

do you have hubcabs on the wheels? If you do try removing it and see if the noise goes away.

 

Nope, no hub caps.

 

maybe brake backing plate rubbing on the rotor. can you hear the noise if you jack up the wheel and spin the tire by hand?

 

Look at the inside of the wheels and check for extreme peeling. A while back I drove my sister-in-law's 2004 Malibu (newer style not the Classic) to a nearby gas station to air up a low tire, and it was making that exact same noise. Upon further inspection, I discovered that GM used a thick, foil-like coating on her alloy wheels for the chrome finish which was peeling really bad and hitting the brake calipers as the wheels turned. I ended up spending the better part of two hours peeling as much crap off of her wheels as I could. She lives six hours away so I didn't want her to have any trouble with it.

Judging by the radio I saw in your video, your Equinox looks to be of the 2007-2009 vintage. If it has the optional 17 inch chrome wheels, I'm willing to bet that they're peeling badly too. If you find this to be the issue, I wouldn't trust that dealership anymore.

 

Thanks for the replies, I will have them check into these two things. Tech2, when the noise showed up the first time 5,000 miles ago, it was the backing plate in the rear because with a new rotor and brake job, the noise went away for a few months. Now that it is back, I'm thinking the same thing is happening up front now since those rotors are still original. It is so intermittent, that I haven't tried jacking it up and spinning by hand because with my luck it won't make the noise while I have it in the air.
Ruley, it is a 2009, but has the 16" alum wheels.

 

your wheel bearings nice and tight?

 

Now it hasn't made the noise in a few days, frustrating as hell. Going to wait until the next LOF before having someone look at it again. Maybe it will get to a point where it is constant. They look at you like you are crazy when the noise doesn't happen when they drive it. LOL