Xantia V6 - scraping noise from spare wheel ?

[Mandrake]

Hi All,

After getting a puncture the other day and putting the steel spare wheel on the front right I noticed a dry scraping noise at speeds above about 15mph.

It sounds exactly like the slight scraping noise I get when applying the brakes for the first 100 metres or so with the normal wheels (no, there's nothing wrong with the thickness of the pads...) but its there all the time without braking.

Presumably something is rubbing slightly between the wheel rim and the hub, but how ? Is space so tight inside the wheel rim that the slightly different shape of the steel rim could be rubbing on the hub ? Is it possible that the steel spare rims for different Xantia's (small and large brake caliper variants) could be different and the car may have the wrong one ?

[Hell Razor5543]

If the spare is a steel, and the normal wheels are alloys, then your wheel bolts are rubbing. A steel rim is quite thin (as steel is strong), while the alloy is much thicker (lighter, but not as strong thickness for thickness). The bolt for the steel rim is countersunk, and not very long (long enough, obviously) while, IIRC, the bolt for an alloy has a flat face, and is longer to reach through the thicker alloy rim.

[myglaren]

^^ I was reading just this week of a similar problem with Mercedes but slightly more dramatic in that using the incorrect bolts rips the calliper from the trailing arm resulting in a huge bill for repair.
Not too clever at all.

[DickieG]

This sounds like the tin backing plate has been bent during the wheel change causing it to rub on the wheel, re the steel spare if its the original one supplied with the car it'll have thick collars/spacers welded to the holes to allow the alloy wheel bolts to be used.

[Xantidote]

Is the rear brake caliper square to the brake disc & wheel. Could corrosion at rear of caliper be pushing caliper out of position, to catch the steel wheel at some point?

[Hell Razor5543]

OP said front right wheel.

[Mandrake]

This sounds like the tin backing plate has been bent during the wheel change causing it to rub on the wheel, re the steel spare if its the original one supplied with the car it'll have thick collars/spacers welded to the holes to allow the alloy wheel bolts to be used.

Forgot to subscribe to my own thread, 5 replies by the time I checked back in.

You might be right, when I changed the wheel back to the alloy tonight the stone cover for the disc did look a little bit bent - however it didn't look like it should be able to touch the rim, perhaps the steel rim has slightly less clearance. The noise was more of a deep seated rumble though, like the rim grinding against the hub or calliper, not like the noise I'd expect from a flimsy steel stone shield.

Yes it is an original spare steel rim so it has the correct collars for the wheel bolts...

[myglaren]

You should be autosubscribed to any thread you create or post in Simon.
Check your user CP and see if you have opted out.

[Mandrake]

I've updated my preferences. I think I turned it off a while back when I was Citroen-less and only occasionally posting to the forum then retreating to the trenches...