Typerod

Hi all, so this past Friday we were in some terrible traffic and when we arrived home, I got out of my 07 Tahoe LTZ and smelled something burning, I put my head near the front drivers side wheel and it seemed to be coming from that general area. Can't really describe the smell, it wasn't like a smell that I have experienced before. I popped the hood to make sure nothing was smoking or smoldering, could slightly smell it with hood open, but it really seemed to be coming from the front left wheel well area. So I chalked it up to being in bad stop and go traffic, and the front rotor being super hot. I did briefly touch it with my finger and it was pretty hot. Fast forward to today, wife said she smelled the burning smell again on short drive from our house to our neighborhood pool, maybe only few thousand feet.

So I got home and I got the car up on jackstands took off the front two wheels, then turned the left front rotor by hand and it had quite a bit of resistance, turned the right side rotor and it moved way more freely. So I took off the front left caliper (I forgot to mention that a very noticeable groove has been appearing on this front left rotor), then turned the rotor by hand and it moved a bit better, I removed the brake pads and it turned even slightly better. I found a good sized piece of metal, fairly thin that was embedded into the pad that was causing the groove. Not sure if it was in the pad to begin with or if it was a foreign piece of metal from the rotor, who knows.

So with the caliper off and brake pads off the rotor turned more freely but not as freely as the right side even though the right side still had its caliper and brake pads in place! So next I checked the caliper pins and they weren't stuck at all, the brake pads were wearing down evenly.

I put everything back together, and test drove it and nothing. I didn't smell the burning anymore, I even brought my infrared thermometer to see rotor temps and nothing was extremely high vs. the other front rotor.

Could it be the burning I was smelling previously from that metal flake I removed from the pad which was causing the groove in the rotor? Could this be possibly a bad wheel bearing, since there was still quite a bit of resistance even though the caliper and brake pads were removed? Another thing to mention as well, I hear a light clicking sounds from the front left wheel well, which is relative to how fast the car is moving, but can only hear it at speeds like 30-35 mph and slower. WHen I put the wheel back on and bolted it down, I grabbed the wheel and tried to wiggle it to do that particular wheel bearing test, but it wouldn't shake/rattle.

I'm leaning towards bad wheel bearing, but I'm not knowledgeable, lol. I also took my stethoscope and listened around, but could not hear anything out of the ordinary. I did hear a very light moan when I turned the left front rotor sometimes.

Any thoughts or input is appreciated!

Thanks!

{tpc}

If it was up on stands and if your hearing some clicking, you could have a cv axle going out. The resistance could be from that. What you could do is try again, but after up on stands raise up the control arm some with a jack or something and see if it gets easier to turn or if the clicking goes away.

Also I think it would be better for doing the wheel bearing test as well. I've been told you will know when the bearings go out as it can get pretty noisy. I've yet to figure out exactly what that sounds like but I am sure my day is coming lol. I had my ball joints done recently and one of the mechanics told me you can't really check for play in them until you unload it some with the wheel in the air.

Typerod

UPDATE: My wife drove about 10-11 miles to do errands yesterday after I had taken the wheels off and left front caliper, she did not smell any burning at all, and I showed her how to use my IR thermometer to get a temp on the brake rotors, the front left was like 186F and the front right was about 202F. So maybe the burning smell was from that piece of embedded metal flake in the brake pad. I'll still monitor it.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try it this weekend. To be more descriptive about the clicking I hear, its not really like a dry CV joint click. Its more of a playing card hitting a bicycle spoke click, but much quieter. And I hear it while driving straight and while turning at low speeds.

I also have been getting a popping sound from the front left suspension when I reverse out of my driveway and the front left wheel drops of the edge of the driveway to the street while I'm turning the steering wheel to the right. I wonder if this wheel bearing related as well or upper/lower ball joint related? lol too many things going on here!

Typerod

Still haven't had that burning smell since I removed that metal flake which was embedded into the brake pad. I'm guessing that was the cause. I have ordered a new front hub to resolve what I believe is a bad wheel bearing.

Typerod

I tried putting in the new hub assembly myself but it was too badly rusted in for me to get it out. Brought it to the dealership this morning, they brought me over to the car and the suspect wheel was turning freely. SMH. Then he tells me that the right front bearing is bad, and that when he was shaking it, it was loose, but when he tried to shake it again in front of me it wasn't making any noise, lol. So I just said go ahead and replace the left front bearing with the new part. I had already ordered the part from amazon, I guess I could have returned it, but I just what the hell and had them put it in. So I get home and jack the car up just to see if there was any difference in the suspect wheel, and low and behold it was still not turning as freely as I felt it should have, lol. And now the front right, is doing the same thing, it doesn't turn as freely as it did yesterday or when it was on the rack at the dealership?!? My driveway is at an angle, I wonder if that has an affect for the wheel to spin freely when its jacked up? I don't know......

Phillip123

I used to have a burning smell, it was because of the brake pads that I replaced and never had the sell again.

I didn't read the thread cause I'm in a hurry, if I missed the whole point, don't be hatin'