The front right wheel is making a scraping noise that I hear mostly at low speed and it is exaggerated in very cold weather. I have just replaced the front rotors and pads so that has been eliminated as a cause. I suspect it's the wheel bearing but my mechanic disagrees and says the noise is normal. He says he can usually feel a wheel bearing problem when he spins the wheel and puts his hand on the strut. Any ideas?

We have a new '03 V70 AWD. Our noise was from the front left wheel and could be best heard in an underground parking lot where it was quiet at low speeds. It sounded like small stones in the hubcap. The deal ended up adjusting the LF caliper backing plate which was rubbing against something. I think he is on the right track - the sound changed after his adjustment, but didn't go away entirely. I will go back and have him try again.

We also had a "thumping" noise in the front. No clear answers yet. The dealer thinks it may be the front mud flaps hitting speed bumps etc because they hang down too low. He said they have been trying to get shorter mud flaps for the front of the car to remedy this problem.

I had a similar noise...I got under the car and found it to be the aluminum heat shield around the cat converter. It had come loose and was rubbing against the driveshaft.There are a few nylon nuts holding it to the chassis. The heat shield corrodes where it comes into contact with the steel chassis of the car....I installed big washers to hold it .
I would inspect the heat shield at the rear of the car as well.

You have described our car perfectly - down to the comments from the mechanic. I'm very curious as to what resolves your problem.
Peter - pab@xmission.com

I have found out nothing. My mechanic says just to wait until it ggets worse so i guess I will, he still does not think it's the bearing -- I do. Please let me know if you find out what the problem is with your car. What year and model and is yours?

Our's is a 98 V70 X/C with 54,000 Miles. We are using an independant mechanic, because I have previously lost respect for our local dealer. It is getting worse slowly. If I cannot get any thoughts from a volvo regional service director, I will likely buy a manual and look at the bearing myself. - It's the only thing that makes sense other than possibly a cv type joint. One of the replies mentioned the whole hub assembly. Depending on how the bearing is seated, that could make sense unless a new seat can be installed. I looked at Alldata (www.alldata.com) and did not see any service bulletins on this issue.

One question might be if the part is standard across model lines whether there may be some postings or ideas in other areas.

Peter

Hi Beezer,
Have you had any progress on yours?, ours is slowly getting worse.

I have finally had the problem diagnosed. According to Volvo Villa here in Toronto it's the drive shaft centre bearing that is making the noise. I got under the car with the mechanic and could her the noise coming from the bearing. Unfortunately the bearing is part of the rear drive shaft assembly and can't be replaced on it's own. This part for my car is $1140.00 Canadian and takes 1.5 hrs to replace. The parts vary in price depending on the serial number of your car due to slight chassis variations. Thank god for my extended warranty. I'll report back when the job is done.

Steve

Have not had it done yet but I'm almost positiove that it's the bearing now. The sound is worse and now sounds like a worn tire and that is the tell tale bearing give away. i plan to have it done soon. Hope my extended waranty will cover it.

Just had my driver's side front hub assembly replaced on my 98 AWD for exactly that same reason. It was replaced at 80,000 miles under extended warranty. The sound was most noticable at less than 25 MPH on quiet pavement, but not readily discernable by just spinning the wheel, so it might be what is wrong with yours.

Good luck,

Mike Harris in Sandy Eggo

W/o hearing the actual sound it's very difficult to say.

When does the sound occur? Over bumps in the road? In my 850, I had a "scraping" sound over rough pavement, usually amplified in the colder weather, that was a torn strut mount/bushing.