Sudden Grinding Sound From Rear Wheel

[Lotus49]

So I was out for a drive today in my new Elan Plus 2. I started by gassing the car up and then taking a leisurely drive through town. Everything seemed fine and I was on my way home, slightly more than a quarter mile away.

I turned left onto a street and I started hearing a grinding sound coming out of my right rear wheel. It sounded like body work rubbing against the tire. The sound was pretty loud so I had to slow down to a crawling speed in order for it not to sound like immediate damage was happening. I crawled home under 5 mph and parked the car in the garage.

A very cursory (and uninformed) inspection of the rear tire shows nothing out of order. I can't see anything obviously broken so have no idea what caused this sound.

The car seemed to drive OK. No observable suspension issues like pulling to one side. The brakes seemed to work OK.

I'm going to have to have the car towed around 50 miles to a Lotus dealer. Could those who know give me tips to make sure the car is towed properly? I doubt any tow truck driver will have ever seen a car like this.

Any ideas on what could be causing the grinding sound? It was VERY loud if I went over 5 mph. So loud that I could not drive it at that speed.

Thank you for helping me out with this problem.

[h20hamelan]

Some of us have one or 3

IMG_2210.jpeg (77.74 KiB) Viewed 5314 times

Your Lotus dealer, how many of the mechanics have ever seen a carburetor or points

Does your diff have fluid?
Did it throw a brake pad, can you see all the pins and pads? Handbrake too!

Dont let some greasy fool use a sling-tow truck. Wheel lift/stinger, zero clearance trailer, zero clearance deck or regular flat deck.

Can you jack up car (like doing tyre change) and rotate wheels, add a bit of pressure to brake pedal and handbrake?

Call up the local Lotus club and find a proper classic car mechanic

[Lotus49]

Some of us have one or 3

IMG_2210.jpeg

Your Lotus dealer, how many of the mechanics have ever seen a carburetor or points

Does your diff have fluid?
Did it throw a brake pad, can you see all the pins and pads? Handbrake too!

Dont let some greasy fool use a sling-tow truck. Wheel lift/stinger, zero clearance trailer, zero clearance deck or regular flat deck.

Can you jack up car (like doing tyre change) and rotate wheels, add a bit of pressure to brake pedal and handbrake?

Call up the local Lotus club and find a proper classic car mechanic

Thanks for the reply. My Lotus dealer does a lot of work on classic cars so will be very familiar with my Elan once it arrives.

Yeah, I said tow truck but what I really meant was flat bed. I need to know how it's safe to pull the Elan onto a flatbed. Is it obvious that even someone who has never seen an Elan will know what to do?

I don't know if my differential has fluid. My guess is yes. I'll look for a leak later.

I don't have a jack aside from the OEM one that came with with the car. Maybe I'll go buy one later this week. I'd rather not use a 49 year old jack.

[h20hamelan]

If a deck, stay away from pulling on the A arms

[Lotus49]

If a deck, stay away from pulling on the A arms

What should be pulled on then? How to get the car onto a flatbed?

[h20hamelan]

Most chassis have a loop on the front at vacuum/front crossmember. I would not pull off the A arms, even Zero clearance

[mbell]

A very common cause the wheel catching on the a arm outer a arm bolt. The clearance is very tight on s130 with alloys.

Something as simple as a slightly loose wheel can cause this. I'd start by giving the wheel a good pull and seeing if there is any play.

After a loose wheel, it could be wheel bearings. Or hub coming loose.

I'd certainly spend a bit of time having a poke around before sending it somewhere. Very likely to be something simple.

[Lotus49]

A very common cause the wheel catching on the a arm outer a arm bolt. The clearance is very tight on s130 with alloys.

Something as simple as a slightly loose wheel can cause this. I'd start by giving the wheel a good pull and seeing if there is any play.

After a loose wheel, it could be wheel bearings. Or hub coming loose.

I'd certainly spend a bit of time having a poke around before sending it somewhere. Very likely to be something simple.

Thanks for the reply. Could a wheel bearing fail so hard so fast? I've had bearings go in past cars and they failed very slowly over time. This incident today was such a hard failure that I was not certain I could have driven it home. Even though I was a quarter mile away from home, i had to drive under 5 mph to keep the noise from the rubbing to a "manageable" level. 10 mph and the noise would have been astonishingly loud.

Here are two photos from the car made only 30 miles ago. Don't know if this helps or not, but perhaps it might help illustrate what parts to look at.

[mbell]

If you've had the wheel of it more likely the wheel has just come loose. You are right that bearings aren't known for going that quickly.

[Lotus49]

If you've had the wheel of it more likely the wheel has just come loose. You are right that bearings aren't known for going that quickly.

These photos were provided by the seller. I have not taken the wheel off. I don't even know how to do so with knock off wheels (although I can guess).

So if I understand correctly, the recommendation is: jack up the car, remove the wheel, and replace it correctly.

Is this understanding correct?

[skelteanema]

Does it make the noise when rotating the wheel/hub by hand? On another car I had a horrendous noise coming from the rear wheel and I thought it was some catastrphic failure. It turned out to be stone caught between the disk and the splash guard.It was incredible how much noise this made and that the stone didn't dislodge itself, it required some brute force to get it out.

[h20hamelan]

Loosen the spinner before jacking. Might need to chock the wheel or brakes on.
When you jack it, dont jack on A arm. Use chassis or original jack.
When its up, wiggle wheel 12 and 6 then 3 and 9 o’clock positions.

As skelteanema says, a rock could have gotten thrown in.

[rgh0]

Potentially a broken or loose drive shaft bolt or donut failing if it still has donuts

cheers
Rohan

[mbell]

I'd give the wheel a good rock on the ground and see if there is any play.

If no play, I'd Jack it up with wheel on and see if there is play or you can see anything moving or find where the nose is coming from by spinning the wheel.

[Elanman99]

If you've had the wheel of it more likely the wheel has just come loose. You are right that bearings aren't known for going that quickly.

These photos were provided by the seller. I have not taken the wheel off. I don't even know how to do so with knock off wheels (although I can guess).

So if I understand correctly, the recommendation is: jack up the car, remove the wheel, and replace it correctly.

Is this understanding correct?

Transporting the car 50 miles without doing a preliminary investigation seems a bit drastic. I doubt I would have driven 50 yards once I heard the sound!

It is possible that the problem is very minor (like a loose wheel, or tiny pebble trapped in the caliper) but your mention of not knowing how to even change a wheel is a concern.

As others have said, towing an Elan or transferring it to a trailer of some sort is not as straightforward as modern production cars, in particular jacking up (even to change a wheel) has to done correctly.

Ian