Hello everyone. I'm back with yet another problem with my 05 Dakota. I just recently purchased tires in February and changed my pads and rotors shortly after that. Oh and also had my upper control arms replaced along with lower ball joints. When I went to replace the pads the passenger side ones were worn away to nothing but the drivers side still had some meat on them. Now ever since I have changed them my tires/wheels make a whirring noise as I drive(its very hard to describe sounds). I first dismissed it as road noise until I was doing 2 miles an hour in a parking lot and can hear the noise clear as day and I'm pretty sure I would have to be going faster. When on the highway I can still hear it and there is no sound difference when I press the brake. I can feel a vibration in the acceleration pedal ever so slightly that goes hand in hand with the sound I hear. I want to take off the wheels and see if there is a noticeable difference in pad wear but that will be in a couple of days. Hectic time with getting ready for a friends wedding. And the fact I bought an 85 lebaron convertible and have been working solely on that for the longest time.
Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.

 

No one? lol. Any thoughts on stuck caliper? Bad hub? Maybe its just really dirty in there. I do work at a racetrack and drive through dirt and mud everyday.

 

Seeing how this week we are having a heat wave, I only decided to go under the car and see what was going on. The drivers side tire seems to be rubbing on one of the bars on hard rights turns. The tire is very smooth with what seems like bubbles on it. Contradictory, kinda but you'll see what I mean.
IMG_20130716_142548_663_zps7cfb324e.jpg

 

Surface is smooth but it bubbles out like ribs? I've seen that a lot, but not on new tires. It looks like it has been rubbing something a lot, is the wheel well liner secure? When I was reading your first posts I was thinking the hub bearing may be toast, it can cause brake pads to just get eaten up fast if the hub is bad enough, since the disc rides with the hub and the caliper stays solid to the knuckle, any play in the bearing will put more pressure on the pads.

 

Well you see how its smooth and clean but you see those dirt marks. That's where it indents and there's a few of those spots. The weirder part is tat this is the drivers side but when I redid the brake pads the passenger side pads were worn down to nothing where the drivers side's were normal. The wheel liner on the drivers side was hanging a bit, but from the bumper and the tire eventually wore enough of it away so they dont touch anymore while driving.
Is there a way to test the hub?
What I was going to try was putting the spare on both sides (one at a time) to see if its one of the tires and go from there.
I'll get a picture of what the wheel is rubbing against it. I think its the sway bar, buy will confirm.

 

Also seeing how I dealt with pep boys and have the Warrenty on the tires for 50,000 miles, is something like this covered? Cause when I go back there I will have the leverage seeing how much trouble they put me through last time.

 

Checking the bearings is fairly easy. Jack up the side you want to check till the tire is just off the ground. Push in on the top of the tire. If you see movement top to bottom, (Tire and rim move, pivoting at the center) then the bearing is shot. There should be no play in these things.

If needed, Replacement isn't too bad a job on these trucks.

[edit] Oh, and I don't think Pepboys' will cover damage to the tire caused by rubbing. Of course you could argue they should have caught a worn out bearing when they installed the tires. But I wouldn't hold my breath on that working with them.

 

Thank you, I'll have to try that later or this weekend. As far as pep boys goes, i had to go back 3-4 times first time because the put the wring size on my truck and the rest for them to figure out why the steering wheel was shaking and each they gave me an alignment they said it was perfect and out of the parking lot it word just pull to the right.
But I shall check in with an update.

 

You might consider finding a different shop to take your truck to when work is needed. I've rarely been impressed with Pep Boy's work. I "might" let them change my oil, but you can sure bet I'll be looking to see if they got the oil filter tight and the level correct before I left.

 

I will jump in on the tire. The indent you see is just the area where the rubber is melted together in the tire form. If you have an air bubble in the side wall it is usually cause by either a defect or the idiot installing it improperly and damaging the side wall.