Sudden Grinding Sound From Rear Wheel

[elansprint]

Take wheel off and make sure it is not something silly like small stone wedged in caliper rubbing on disc
Ian

[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?

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

Not sure where your getting 50 miles. I drove a quarter mile home once this rubbing or grinding sound started. I had to get the car off the street. Otherwise it would just have to be abandoned.

I've changed a lot of wheels in my lifetime, but never a knock off wheel. I'll google or youtube it to see how to re-attach the wheel properly. Removing it I'm sure I can do.

I'm going to just let the car sit in my garage until I can find a person who knows how to teach me how to make sure to properly get a car like this onto a flat bed. I have no idea and see only disaster if I try now.

[Lotus49]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I will be trying many of the suggestions later on in the week when I have time. I appreciate all the help and I'll reply back with what I've found, how it gets fixed, or more questions based on what I see with the wheel off.

Thanks again!

[Lotus49]

Hello Everyone! It's been a very hectic week and today I'm finally able to get to look at my car and see what I can find based off of everyone's suggestions.

I found very quickly that the wheel in question has quite a lot of wiggle when I push and pull on it. This was very surprising. Enough wiggle to make a significant audible sound. I checked the other 3 wheels and two of them also wiggle, but not anywhere near as much as the wheel that produced the grinding sound last week.

So, my guess is that I need to remove and replace these wheels, and make sure that they are seated correctly when the nut is tightened. Is that the correct course of action?

If yes, I'm still not out of the woods as I am not certain how to safely jack up this car. I have the jack that came with the car, FORTY NINE YEARS AGO(!!). I am not certain that's a good jack just based on age. I looked at a few youtube videos and they are much more involved in that special wood cut outs are made to jack up the car in areas where the weight must be distributed in order to do it safely. I don't have such wood cut outs and have no tools to create such, leaving me at a loss at what to do next.

For many here my problem is trivial, but as mentioned in my introductory post, I have never been one to get deep into working on cars. Because of this, I need guidance on how to do these jobs safely, both to the car and myself. Assume I know nothing, because in all likelihood, that's true!

I'll go out and buy any tools that I need to get this job done. Thank you very very much.

[rgh0]

To check the wheels tightness

I would get a small trolley jack and use a block of wood about 4 inch by 4 inch by 1/2 to 1 inch thick to spread the load and jack under the body at the rear corner infront of the wheel just inside where the sill flange bolts to the body.
An alternative is a longer block of wood under the A frame where it bolts to the strut just inside the wheel

At the front I would use the trolley jack with the block of wood on the chassis cross member under where the lower suspension arm pivots on each side.

Chock the wheels on the opposite sire to where your jacking so the car does not move.

Remove and refit each wheel and initially tighten the spinner with the lead hammer with the wheel in the air. Lower the car and do a final tightening. Pay attention to the undo directional arrow on the spinner when doing this

If you still have signiicant wheel movement after tightening the spinners then you have a wheel bearing problem

cheers
Rohan

[h20hamelan]

Maybe the wishbone bushings ?

[512BB]

'Remove and refit each wheel and initially tighten the spinner with the lead hammer with the wheel in the air'

That is the last thing I would do if you are not used to swinging a lead hammer to tighten spinners, which I assume you are not. You stand a very high risk of hitting the alloy wheel, and or the wheel arch, and causing much damage. Hopefully your car was supplied with one of the after market tools that remove spinners with a long bar, and if it wasn't, that should be your first purchase.

The alloy wheels that you show on your car were never designed to be fitted with 3 eared spinners, even though you sometimes see them fitted. They should be fitted with chromed hexagonal hub type things with the associated removal tool.

'If you still have signiicant wheel movement after tightening the spinners then you have a wheel bearing problem'

Or the actual hubs on the axles have not been tightened properly, in which case, I would have the whole car checked over due to incompetance.

Good luck with it,

Leslie

[smo17003]

And don't forget that the left hand wheel spinners have a left hand thread i.e. you turn them to the right to loosen.

Mike

[Lotus49]

To check the wheels tightness

I would get a small trolley jack and use a block of wood about 4 inch by 4 inch by 1/2 to 1 inch thick to spread the load and jack under the body at the rear corner infront of the wheel just inside where the sill flange bolts to the body.
An alternative is a longer block of wood under the A frame where it bolts to the strut just inside the wheel

At the front I would use the trolley jack with the block of wood on the chassis cross member under where the lower suspension arm pivots on each side.

Chock the wheels on the opposite sire to where your jacking so the car does not move.

Remove and refit each wheel and initially tighten the spinner with the lead hammer with the wheel in the air. Lower the car and do a final tightening. Pay attention to the undo directional arrow on the spinner when doing this

If you still have signiicant wheel movement after tightening the spinners then you have a wheel bearing problem

cheers
Rohan

Thank you for your reply! I can follow the first few steps but the most critical step, where to jack up the car, is not something I can follow. You use terms that are not familiar to me. Can you be as brutally specific as possible, with a photo if at all possible? I'm afraid the only underside photo I can find is of a regular Elan. I don't know if this is helpful but I'll post it below.

There's not much instructional content on the web on how to jack up these cars. Very surprising. I did find one youtube video that casually talks about this and the guy said you need a block of wood (as you suggested) but had numerous cut outs to account for brake and suspension components. I don't have that nor do I have tools to make it. If I could safely use a normal shaped block of wood, that would help out a lot.

Sorry to be so dense, but I'm way behind everyone's skill level. I'm trying to learn from all this. Thanks again.

[Lotus49]

Maybe the wishbone bushings ?

Thank you for your reply. I have no idea what parts those are so if the wheel refit does not work I will have to let a shop figure out what the problem is.

I'm hopeful that it's the loose wheels as I've detected 3 out of the 4 wheels having some play in them. Maybe once those are tightened up my car will become much better. I just have to figure out how to jack up this car safely. It's a very very intimidating process.

[Lotus49]

'Remove and refit each wheel and initially tighten the spinner with the lead hammer with the wheel in the air'

That is the last thing I would do if you are not used to swinging a lead hammer to tighten spinners, which I assume you are not. You stand a very high risk of hitting the alloy wheel, and or the wheel arch, and causing much damage. Hopefully your car was supplied with one of the after market tools that remove spinners with a long bar, and if it wasn't, that should be your first purchase.

The alloy wheels that you show on your car were never designed to be fitted with 3 eared spinners, even though you sometimes see them fitted. They should be fitted with chromed hexagonal hub type things with the associated removal tool.

'If you still have signiicant wheel movement after tightening the spinners then you have a wheel bearing problem'

Or the actual hubs on the axles have not been tightened properly, in which case, I would have the whole car checked over due to incompetance.

Good luck with it,

Leslie

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate your feedback. I did not realize these were aftermarket wheels. Were the OEM wheels steel? I've seen those on a lot of Elans. When you say that the 3 eared spinners were not designed for the alloy wheels, is this due to how compact these wheels are, making removal and attachment of the spinners more difficult? Or is there another reason, perhaps safety related?

Thanks again.

[Lotus49]

To check the wheels tightness

I would get a small trolley jack and use a block of wood about 4 inch by 4 inch by 1/2 to 1 inch thick to spread the load and jack under the body at the rear corner infront of the wheel just inside where the sill flange bolts to the body.
An alternative is a longer block of wood under the A frame where it bolts to the strut just inside the wheel

At the front I would use the trolley jack with the block of wood on the chassis cross member under where the lower suspension arm pivots on each side.

Chock the wheels on the opposite sire to where your jacking so the car does not move.

Remove and refit each wheel and initially tighten the spinner with the lead hammer with the wheel in the air. Lower the car and do a final tightening. Pay attention to the undo directional arrow on the spinner when doing this

If you still have signiicant wheel movement after tightening the spinners then you have a wheel bearing problem

cheers
Rohan

I went back to the photo set from the auction where I bought this car and noticed that there's a shot of the car on a lift. I hope this helps solve my problem. Can I use a jack and block of wood on each area where this lift is picking up the car? Would this be safe?

My guess is it would be OK but I want to triple check everything to be 100% sure.

Thank you!

[smo17003]

Here you go - jacking up a Lotus Elan

https://youtu.be/E4YUz55ELEw

[Lotus49]

Here you go - jacking up a Lotus Elan

https://youtu.be/E4YUz55ELEw

Yes, I watched that video a few days ago and referenced the content in my post above. This guy uses a custom block of wood to jack up the car using the suspension components.

It would seem to be easier to use the part of the car that is used by the lift in my photos.

I don't have that custom block of wood and would rather not try to make one unless it is absolutely mandatory.

Thank you.

[rgh0]

Yes, where the hoist is positioned will work with a simple square block of wood and trolley jack, If using a trolley jack you can alterntively postion it under the outer ends of the front cross member rather than under the body, both work

cheers
Rohan