Baseball cards in my spokes.
Dear automobile enthusiasts: My Scion (2004 xA, related entries) has started emitting a ticking/clicking sound from its front right wheel. The sound, which really reminds me of a turn signal or of a baseball card stuck between the spokes of a bike wheel, seems to occur in a march: CHIK-chik-CHIK-chik.
It is timed to the speed of the car (not the speed of the engine); I had thought it occurred more than once per tire revolution, but a quick calculation (based on a rough measurement of 4 clicks/sec at 10 mph) proves that it occurs just about once per go-round. No correlation with turning or anything, either.
It’s not so loud that I can hear the sound with the windows up, but with the front passenger’s window down, it’s pretty clearly audible (moreso when I pass a solid object on the right which will reflect the sound). I’ve checked as best I can for stones in the tread and can’t find any. No, I don’t have fancy hubs or spinners or anything; this is the standard, el-cheapo plastic hubcap (which appears securely fastened, if slightly curb-scraped).
Thoughts?
11 Responses to “Baseball cards in my spokes.”
If you haven’t done so already, take the tire off and look closely for crap in the tread or the tire wearing through. If the problem is with the inboard side of the tread, it can be hard to see with the wheel mounted. Also look for crap in the wheel well. You may want to wear some heavy gloves when doing this as you can cut the hell out of yourself on the belt if the tire is worn through. Try rotating your tires and see if the problem moves with them.
At worst it could be a worn wheel bearing.
comment posted at 1:16 am on 11 Nov 2005
Perhaps the brake rotor is touching something. If the dust guard or the rotor itself got warped in some way.
comment posted at 11:49 am on 11 Nov 2005
Or perhaps a bad ball joint? If it is that, it needs to be replaced ASAP.
comment posted at 12:11 pm on 11 Nov 2005
Second the bad wheel bearing suggestion. I had the exact same symptoms on my car before. I’m guessing your car is still under warranty - better take it to the dealer to have it fixed.
If it turns out to be a problem with your tires, then they could be defective or perhaps your front-end is way out of alignment. Your tires shouldn’t be worn out after two years unless you’ve been doing some serious driving.
comment posted at 2:29 pm on 26 Nov 2005
Funny, my Scion has been making a noise I’ve described as–a baseball card in the spokes of a bike wheel! It seems to have gottn louder over time. My husband took it in to the dealer a couple of months ago–evidently they took off the hubcab, said it had been caused by a rock. But I knew that wasn’t true–it doesn’t happen in reverse, and it was still there after the service trip.
So I’m wondering–did you ever figure out what was causing the ticking? Mine’s on the left rear, and I think the right rear is beginning to tick too, though it’s hard to hear it over the noise of the left.
comment posted at 12:18 pm on 24 Jul 2006
You know, the noise eventually went away. I’m not sure if it’s because there was some debris that eventually loosed itself, or because of the weather (the noise stopped when it finally got cool in Houston).
The noise hasn’t recurred since then. (And it’s plenty hot here these days.)
*shrug*
comment posted at 12:27 pm on 24 Jul 2006
Wow, we have had this EXACT problem with our Dodge Grand Caravan on the two front wheels. We took it to the dealer, but they could not figure it out. It is still doing it off and on but it is hot right now. We are guessing that it has to do with the plastic cheapo hub caps torqued improperly or warping from heat expansion/contraction problem. We could actually see and feel the hub cap pop on each revolution of the wheel. We may have the dealer remove/retighten everything at the dealership caps, lugnuts, etc. to see if that helps.
comment posted at 5:52 pm on 08 Sep 2006
I have the exact same problem but with the front wheel on the drivers side on my 2005 Scion xA. It drives me nuts. I took it to THREE Toyota dealers who gave me the run-around until one finally said ‘oh I’ve heard of that’ and replaced all four hubcaps for free. The sound went away for two months. Now every time I get the tires rotated it starts up again and fades after about 3,000 miles.
comment posted at 3:30 pm on 17 Dec 2006
I’ve had the exact same, intermittent problem for a while with my 2004 xA. While the car is rolling forward, I get a sharp clacking noise that’s tied to the speed of the wheel. The noise doesn’t happen in reverse.
comment posted at 6:52 pm on 06 Feb 2007
Sorry to leave a spew of comments on your blog, but now that I think about it, the front wheel was making the same clacking when I bought the car in May of 2004. I couldn’t get off of work to ever take the car in under warranty and figured that if the noise appeared straight off the lot, then the likelihood of it being bearings or joints is slim.
comment posted at 6:56 pm on 06 Feb 2007
You know, the problem went away when the seasons changed. It hasn’t come back since the spring/summer of 06.
*crosses fingers*
comment posted at 10:40 pm on 20 Feb 2007