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Ask Your Question2003 Chevrolet Malibu
Question: soft knocking sound emanating from driver-side wheel well
Question
When background noise is low (low speed, fans/radio=off), I notice a soft and gentle knocking sound originating from the left wheel well. Physical inspection indicates nothing out of place.
Car turns completely fine.
When I go over a bump with just my left wheel, I feel the shock absorber compress and rebound as the left wheel goes over the bump. This sounds normal and does not exacerbate the knocking sound.
The knocking sound seems to be most pronounced when the car's inertia shifts from side to side. Again, it's only on the left side, only noticeable at low speeds (likely because of the low background noise it provides).
It almost sounds like something is trapped in the wheel well, but of course the problem isn't that obvious.
Anyone think they can take this question?
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Answer #1
hitchpin5007 February 04, 2010, 19:42Reply
RookieNot sure this is what you might have going on , but you might consider the wheel lug nuts if you have some sort of hub cap that covers the the hub . A lug nut rolling around randomly inside the cap will cause such a sound - or it might be some other foreign object trapped in there doing the same thing -- it's worth a check .
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Answer #2
sleepydub February 12, 2010, 15:46Reply
Rookiei have an 03 jetta gli. and i had the same problem but it was at low rpms and downshifts when i heard the noise. on my wayt to a mechanic i shifted into third and herd a bunch of grinding so i stoped my car. i thought i blew my clutch but i got it towed and i blew my CV joint. if yours is knocking around get it looked at as soon as possible
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