I monkeyed around with the anti-rattle clips a week ago. I jacked the car up and put it in neutral so that I could spin the tire. I tried to slide the anti-rattle clips a bit away from the damage with no change in sound as I spun the wheel. I can't imagine installing the new caliper wrong enough to cause a problem like this. It installed fine and I followed the torque specs for all four bolts without issue.

Having the wrong size rotor is an interesting concept and definitely worth investigating. I'll pull the wheels after work and measure. I bought the rotor from Advance - maybe they pulled the wrong one.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

I did a quick look at rockauto for specs on the rotors. I only looked at 2; one was 10.63 inches and the other was 10.87 inches. I did a very cursory check, don't know anymore than that.

 

It could be the replacement calliper is incorrect


Larger diameter rotors will hit the bracket as shown here there isn’t much space

 

I haven't had a chance to dig in again yet but here is what I ordered at Advance:

Wearever Unloaded Caliper w/Bracket
Part No: 18-B4911
Link

Carquest Wearever Brake Rotor - Front
Part No: YH145661
Outside Diameter: 10.87 in
Link

Both are marked as "Exact Fit for your 2009 Chevrolet HHR LT". That is no guarantee, of course, that these are the parts that I was handed...

 

Take some pictures please, show us the before and after parts, please

 

A bad wheel bearing could create this. The rotor "travels" with the hub. The caliper is fixed to the knuckle. Normally there is no "tip angle" to the rotor, but bearing play can cause contact on the outer edges. Your bearing is in pretty bad shape if that's the case, but I have seen this.

The radius of the rotor magnifies the distance the bearing moves toward the caliper .

 

I should have been more clear that those parts I ordered were what I installed about 3 weeks ago. I won't be able to provide before/after photos.

 

That was my first thought so I tried to yank the wheel around but there was no play in it at all. Could a wheel bearing be bad and cause this without enough play for me to yank it around?

 

The end play spec on hubs is 0.015 inch. So they can be bad with no human observable play.

I doubt that is the problem unless you also see bumpy inside tread wear on the tires.

 

Probably not. It would have to be pretty bad.

That seems to leave the rotor or the caliper bracket. One of these things does not like the other....