Em Bee Lover

2007 4Matic. The turn into my garage is a 90* right from the driveway. Slow turning, I hear a "rubbing" or friction, but not metal to metal sound. It is not constant, but always audible. That is, it makes the noise only once in a 360* wheel rotation. It's not brake related, says my indi, but he cannot i d. The sound is akin to rubber boots on the axle or similar being struck/rubbed. It's consistently there, but not constant or continuous.

I get the same sound when slowly turning left; rub-silence-rub-silence etc.

Any ideas out there? Not anxious to go to dlr. and play 20 questions and still not get an answer.

Thanks.

745Japan

Lower control arm bushings?

Em Bee Lover

Thanks for reply. It's more than I knew before your reply. Appreciated.

LaicepsYdobon

Do you feel vibration in the steering wheel when you hear the sound ? Do you hear a "groaning" noise when you turn the steering wheel in either direction until it locks ?

Em Bee Lover

I appreciate your thoughts alot.We're talking semantics and interpretation, to a degree. It's not a a groaning, as I'd think of the transfer case, but a "rubbing", if that makes sense. There's a "rubbing" sound, then silence, then rubbing, then silence. Slower the speed, the longer the time between the sound. Faster, quicker.

It's like something is "hitting/rubbing" against something consistently, but not constantly, if that makes sense. I have had two indi folks ride and listen. One said spray the rubber boots with Armor-All. Well, heck, that'd be gone in the first rain. It didn't help, I might add.

I am frustrated. One nice poster mentioned lower control arm bushings. I didn't run with that, yet. I am mad, because a car at this level, with 66000 miles, imo, should be silent when turning. Mine isn't.

Again, thanks, but anyone with other ideas is solicited. Thanks.

IDriveAnM5

While I don't have any direct input on your problem, my Dad's former Jaguar X-Type (I know, right??) had a knocking noise when turning at low speeds. Turns out that, within 200 miles, the transfer case destroyed itself and left him stranded on the road (near home, thankfully). When taken in for repair, the tech said, "Yeah, that happens." I was shocked. Needless to say, the car came out of the Jaguar shop, went straight to the M-B dealer, and was replaced by a C300 4Matic.

I hope your problems aren't as severe!

LaicepsYdobon

The reason why I was asking is because my wife's C300 had something similar. It turned out her transfer case was glazed over. There are two plates within the transfer case and they has some dirt or whatnot glazed onto the two plates that caused vibration and a groaning sound. Our dealer identified it right away and it took about an hour in the shop to get rid of it. Not sure if an indie shop could diagnose this for you but it would not hurt to see if this this indeed is a transfer case issue. If the plates within the transfer case are glazed over there is no need for a new transfer case. However if the transfer case if worn then a new one will be needed to ordered. With 66,000 miles on the car I'm thinking its only dirt but I am by no stretch a mechanic.

NJS430

I had a similar problem. Thought it might be the brakes or the axle - at least that's what it sounded like. Noise only occurs at very slow speeds while turning in either direction, i.e. parking lots. Lived with it for about six months and then took it to the Dealer. They spent two days diagnosing it and it turned out to be the tires. They changed all four wheels with another car and the sound went away. They were the original Continentals with about 30,000 miles on them. I didn't replace the tires at that time and the sound went away on its own about 3 months later. I finally replaced the tires at 35,000 miles.

Hope this helps.

Em Bee Lover

Thanks for taking time to share the idea of tires, as the cause.

I have noticed the noise only w/in the past, maybe, two thousand miles. I have the factory issued Continentals on but, with 66k on the car, likely not the originals. They are getting closer to the wear bars.

Interestingly, prior to your reply/message, I had set an appt. for 11.16. to get new Continentals installed. Wow, would it be sweet, if that cured the noise.

I'll report whether or not new tires eliminate the irritating sound. This may help others who experience the sound issue.

NJS430

What you describe sounds exactly like what I had experienced. I thought maybe it was the boot on the axle or some combination of rubber and metal. Clearly the noise was happening once per revolution of the wheel and only when the wheel was turned in either direction at slow speed.

I switched to Michilens this time - I like them.

Keep us posted on what happens with the new tires.

Em Bee Lover

Update on post from six weeks ago regarding front end "rubbing" noise while slowly turning the car. I got thoroughly frustrated by mechanics saying, "spray teflon on the boots near the wheels" and other similar worthless fixes.

One poster here suggested putting new tires on would eliminate the noises. The sound didn't seem to be coming from the tires and that was a hard fix to swallow.

A week ago, out of annoyance with the sound, I dumped Conti Contacts, with probably 10,000 miles left on them and put on four new Continental Extreme Conact DWS.

Weeks ago there were other posters saying they had the same sounds. They asked I share my experience.

Noises gone. Period. I cannot explain why. Nothing was done but put new rubber on existing stock 18" wheels.

Good luck.