Hi All,
This is my first post so I hope I've got i in the correct channel.
A couple of months ago I brought a 2004 e320 estate with 135K miles on the clock.
The "new" MOT when I brought it was completely fraudulent. I've had to put on new discs and pads all round and a bunch of other stuff.

Now (from inside the car) I can hear a metal on metal rubbing sound, which reminds me of brake graunching when the pads are shot - BUT the sound is NOT affected by using the brakes.
The hand brake does not always release easily I'm wondering if the noise could be the hand break getting stuck partially on?

The noise is 100% associated with road speed not engine speed.

Other thoughts - the car had two wheel locking nuts missing when it brought it so I replaced them all round with and aftermarket (mot Merc) product. I've read stuff on this forum about these damaging hubs so I removed them, this is didn't affect the noise above. BUT is it possible I have already damaged something with these bolts (they were about 10mm longer that the merc bolts - could they have contacted something behind he hub or deformed the hub? when I took them out the was possible evidence of contact on one pair and nothing the other but can't recall which was front and which was rear).

One other thing to note, I think the noise is coming from the rear although its very hard to place (can hear it inside with the window up - can't hear anything from the outside when windows are down!!!. When I park the car after a short journey the rear wheel nuts are warm - this doesn't seem right to me??? on longer drives (20 minute) the center of the alloy wheel is warm, I think this heat is transferring from the bolts - is this normal??? This still happens with the aftermarket bolts removed

I have a bad feeling about this!!!

All thought welcome, Thanks in advance
Jon

 

LIft each corner and spin each wheel. Listen for noise.
10mm longer than the rest of the bolts is long enough to poke through into places it shouldn't be. Check your work, look behind the rotor hat for broken bits.

 

Will do - I half thought of that but assumed the wheels wouldn't spin freely - definitely worth a try if you say they should. Thanks again

 

I bought a set of wheels for my W212 that were off an older C class. Took a couple of tries to get the correct length bolt. The first set did indeed lock the wheel on the hub, but who knows what would have happened had I simply bolted the wheels on then tried to drive it.
Anyway, let us know what you find out. I'm guessing you'll find some hamburger behind the rotor.

 

Hi Thanks for the great advice, I’ve just done what you said there was definitely noise from the near side (passenger side) real wheel. I’ve taken the wheel off and put the “too long bolt” in to try and get some sense of what is going on, video here…


Does anybody have any idea of what is making contact inside the hub? It felt to me like springs where being contacted? I’m going to take it to my garage but any early thoughts on what I might have damaged in the hub would be nice. Does anybody have a diagram of this area? Is taking hubs off an expensive job?

Thanks again Rapidoxidation

Jon

 

I bet your parking brake doesn't work anymore. There's a set of shoes in there IIRC. I don't have a diagram but someone smarter than I might post one up.

 

It does but there will be deformed parts in there causing the noise and heat. What a ****-up!

 

No need to touch the hubs. Pull the brake caliper and disc, you should be able to see what's taken the hit. I assume it's just the parking brake shoe springs.

edit/ Actually, you can eyeball from the bolt holes with the flashlight if you see some damage.

 

Ahhhh that is very good news :-)
Thanks again

as an aside I've put down a deposit on a earlier version of the e class estate with only 53K on the clock. my gut tells me its going to be a much more reliable bet. In 35 years of buying cars this is the 1st time I feel like I've been really stung, its left a bad feeling and I'm just going to cut my losses and get shot of this one (when the parking brake is fixed! )