Help and ideas please

[RJDubya]

Yesterday I noticed my car had started making a strange noise. At first I thought it was a flat tyre because of the sound but checked this and all tyres were well inflated.

It sounds a bit like it's grinding and knocking from the front right at the same time and only comes on when you're holding constant speed or lift off the accelerator... When accelerating and braking the noise vanishes. I haven't had time to have a proper look yet, the only real test I've thought to do was to lift off and press the clutch (to check it want this making the noise) and this doesn't change the sound at all...

Any pointers/ideas what it could be or what to look at would be appreciated.

[Piggy]

is it a knock or a grinding?!
difficult to imagine what would do both!

possible broken spring...buggered arm...buggered balljoint...bearing...etc etc

bit a vague but so is the description tbh

[RJDubya]

It's a hard 1 to describe tbh, but because it knocks and grinds I think it could be a couple of things... I'll have a look, I doubt (mainly due to my shit description) that it'll get pinpointed by anyone without hearing it. The weirdest bit is that the noisegoes when you brake or accelerate, makes me think it's not a bearing/spring/arm etc

[RJDubya]

It would seem i got off lightly with this 1, took the wheel off, checked everything over, nothing broken or missing. Put the wheel back on, tightened up and took it for a drive and no more noise...

It would seem the garage i took my car too to do the bottom rad hose cant have tightened the wheel bolts enough... I can only think this is what has caused the noise i so poorly described, its on good and tight now so fingers crossed this is what was causing it!! Now to have words with the garage...

[WiNgNuTz]

Were the nuts loose when you took the wheel off then?

[RJDubya]

Didnt seem loose, not as tight as i would expect as i didnt need a bar to undo them... Its all i can think of because the only thing ive done is have the wheel off and a look and put it back on. Couldnt see anything else up with it but the noise is gone.

[WiNgNuTz]

Hmm...sounds a bit suspect though doesnt it. Ive never had loose nuts (inb4giggidy), so i wouldnt have the first idea what they sound like, although i can imagine you'd be able to feel something wasnt right through the steering wheel. But as you say, i'd be having words with the garage that did the work!

[RJDubya]

Im just gonna count myself lucky for now and get on with some other bits i need doing on it (getting bits to Bosch it for 1) and if it starts making the noise again i'll check it over.

Couldn't feel anything wrong through the steering wheel, it just sounded like nothing ive heard before!!

[cwspellowe]

From experience, loose wheel bolts give some terrifying handling characteristics. Inspect the top of the bolt holes in the hub, if they've been ovalled or tapered in any way the bolts were loose.

When one of my wheels nearly fell off the car tramlined so badly I pulled off the motorway onto a slip road and it did its best to steer back onto the motorway!

[RJDubya]

From experience, loose wheel bolts give some terrifying handling characteristics. Inspect the top of the bolt holes in the hub, if they've been ovalled or tapered in any way the bolts were loose.

When one of my wheels nearly fell off the car tramlined so badly I pulled off the motorway onto a slip road and it did its best to steer back onto the motorway!

I would expect it to cause problems tbh, but it didnt feel any different to normal. I checked the holes too, couldnt see any visible damage/ovalling, and the bolts looked ok, no damage to the threads... There was still plenty of thread through the hubs i think, just not nipped up tight. Started about 4 days after getting the car back from the garage so could they have just worked loose?