Need Help! Metallic noise coming from front left wheel area. Not Brakes.

[STERLINGX]

Hi everyone,

I've been a member here for a very long time but rarely post. However, I need some expert advice regarding a strange, metallic grinding sound I'm hearing coming from the front left (I think) wheel area. Other than this sound the X5 is driving normally.

It seems to happen at low speeds between 10-15mph.
It seems to happen when I'm coasting with my foot off the throttle and stops when I accelerate.
It doesn't vary with brake application or steering input.
It does seem to cease just as I'm rolling to a stop at under 5mph.

I'm thinking torque converter/transmission, transfer case or axle/hub. My gut says it's likely the tranny or transfer case but I'm hoping I'm wrong.

I just noticed it for the first time last Friday but I was driving slowly down a strange street looking for an address with the drivers window open. Normally I would have the radio on and the window up given the cold temps at night so it may have been occurring longer than I realized.

I'm going to post a video clip I took this evening with my iPhone. I had to convert it to WMV and compress the heck out of it to come under the 1MB upload limit. The video quality is terrible but the audio is the main reason I uploaded it.

Any advice is much appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your help!

Bill

'04 BMW X5 3.0i
Auto, fully loaded, original owner.
78K easy miles.

[EODguy]

Are you sure that the pad hasn't stayed stuck against the rotor a little and then have it go back with the slave cylinder after some speed or application of brakes?

Sent from my SM-A730F using Tapatalk

[CleanIsFast]

Check wheel bearing?

[Mouse]

Possibly center support bearing/guibos. Early signs can be a high pitched "tinging" noise.

Ninja Edit: Missed the grinding part. Rock behind rotor shield would be my guess.

[Attacking Mid]

It's hard to hear anything in your wav file, but if you're talking about the high pitched sound, then I agree with EODguy... it sounds as if you might have a stuck caliper piston.

Jack up that corner of the car and see if the wheel is hard to turn due to a brake pad dragging.

AM.

[STERLINGX]

Thanks for the input guys. I don’t think it’s brakes but I’ll take your advice and take it to my Indy to have it diagnosed. It seems odd that it doesn’t do it all the time and I believe it stops if I shift the tranny to neutral at low speed while it’s squealing. That’s why I was thinking it was something in the driveline.

Thanks again!

[Mouse]

Best of luck....hope it's something cheap/simple.

[upallnight]

Originally Posted by Mouse

Best of luck....hope it's something cheap/simple.

Nothing on a BMW is cheap or simple.

[mr_robot]

More like if it's cheap it's not simple if it's expensive it's fairly simple.

That's been my experience thus far.

[Bdc101]

It's a loose nut on a wheel bearing. I'm 99% certain. I had exact same sound on an older car years ago. Only made the noise when coasting. I'll bet you a six pack.