Alright... I drove my 1973 911 targa home yesterday, it ran well and didn't seem to have any troubles. After I turn on to my road it starts making a sound from the right front which is about like what you would expect to hear if you had a flap come off of the tire and hitting the body. It speed up and slows down with the speed of the car and stops when the brakes are applied.

I'm thinking that something might have come loose in the caliper. I'll get it back to the shop and have them check it out next week, I wanted to see if some of y'all might have an idea what it could be.

Retaining pin worked loose?
Pad came unseated?
Something stuck in the backing plate?



Ideas? I haven't had a chance to really look at it yet.

dude, dont drive it another mile.
Jack it up and spin the wheel to see if it is safe to drive.

Could be many things, spin the wheel to see.

rich

Maybe a 1/4 mile to my dad's house?

I'll jack it up and spin the wheel first to see if anything is obvious, but if I don't see anything I'd want to get it over there so that I can work on it in his shop instead of my gravel driveway.

I've never heard anything like that from the brakes on any of my cars before.
The brakes still stop the car.

:edit: I just google mapped it, it is a mile to my dad's house. seems closer.

Squirrel caught by the tail in the back of the wheel. He's got to be pretty dizzy by now.

We seriously need a like feature for posts like this ^

Ask George for one of his cars. I'm sure you deserve it

I have my daily driver 914, but a six would be fun.

Did you check the treads for something stuck in there?

I felt around the tire... I figured the tire broke (since they are over 13 years old!) it was getting dark so I figured it could wait until later.

I'll be pulling it under the carport tonight as it's supposed to rain later, I might be able to take a better look at it.

The noise stops when the brakes are applied, it must be something related to them.

The mechanic who last worked on the car said that the wheel bearings were getting loose but that he thought they should be fine. But it sounds like it's a likely cause, and I do remember that the car was bobbing up and down before it started making the noise but I assumed it was because I have two different size tires on the front right now (just to get it home).

After I eat some pizza I'm going to go out there and jack up the offending corner and spin the wheel, if I don't see anything obvious should I assume that it is the wheel bearing? How would I know if that's what it is?

Also... I haven't worked on this car in a loooooong time. What is a good jacking point to raise the front left corner?

When you jack the car up grab onto the top and bottom of the tire and try to move it forward and back! You don't even have to jack it up to test it. Grab the top of the tire and pull hard to see if it clunks!

If you hear a clunk or any movement you need to tighten or replace your bearing!

Loose nut holding the wheel??

Probably some dead possum or squirrel stuck up there.....
Or

Betty White's Pussy .....

I pulled on the wheel and it clunks...

Would it be safe to drive it slowly back to the shop with a bad wheel bearing?

You've got to be kidding me ? Take the damn wheel off, pop off the grease cap, grab an allen key, turn the nut down and tighten up the allen bolt. THIS IS ONLY TO GET IT BACK TO THE SHOP, to have your " mechanic " take another failed look at it. Fer Christs sake boy you work for one of the most notorious Porsche specialty shop's in the southeast

The mechanic who last worked on the car said that the wheel bearings were getting loose but that he thought they should be fine



there's yer sign

Up inside on the tub just behind the front wheel. Or just use the jack tube.

Will do, thanks for the tip.

Hopefully that will get me back to the shop at least.

Jack tube is the best way! Unless rusted of course!
If rusted: do it as Spoke said!

If you cant use the Jack tube, use a block of rubber or wood when you jack it up!

And to tighten those wheel bearings is not hard at all!

I haven't done any work on this yet as I've been quite sick, but someone told me something that I want to write down here so that I don't forget.

When you tighten the 6mm allen nut or whatever it is, only tighten it to the point that it just stops, don't torque it past that point.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

If you're talking about the nut that holds the hub onto the spindle, it is a pinch nut. I would give it a bit more than just "when it stops". If the nut is not secured on the spindle, it can back off and you're gonna lose a wheel in the worst case.

Don't use a 4' breaker bar on it, but do tighten the pinch screw securely.

You tighten the nut until you can just barely move the washer behind it by pushing it (not prying on it!) with a screwdriver. Then you tighten the little Allen screw that keeps the nut from rotating.

I believe that one of the sides is reverse threaded.

--DD

Then you drive it around the block and pull it back in and do it again.

So you need to do it twice.

rich