I have googled like crazy and searched this forum, but evidently I don't know the right terms to use for searching this issue. I hope this is the right place to post it... some thread which I can't find now said to post wheel/tire issues in that forum, but I can't seem to find anything but this forum. If this is the wrong place, I will happily delete this one and move it, if someone can tell me where.

We just purchased a 2008 HHR two days ago... drove 80 miles away so I could get the 5-speed manual I wanted.

Yesterday (Yes, day 1 of ownership) a very loud, high-pitched squeeky-type chirp showed up. It:

... seemed to be on the left-front wheel area.
... didn't start 'till about 30 mph, then picked up in speed as we accelerated, as though it was in relation to the tire rotation.
... was consistent. It did not stop or change pitch at all when braking, accelerating, turning on/off AC, etc. Nothing we tried changed it.
... DID change pitch or tone when turning to the right or left, but did not stop completely unless the car stopped.

Today I got the tires rotated to see what happened, and the chirp seems to have moved to the right back.

My googling this isn't working because Google and forum searching can't tell the difference between a sound that moves when the "tires" are "rotated" and a sound that is in sync with the "rotation" of the "tires" as you're driving (which of course, mine is, but that's not what I'm searching for).

Everything I look up for "wheel bearing" talks about grinding, rather than high pitched chirping. And my husband says it shouldn't have moved with a tire rotation so I guess that's not it.

Brake trouble wouldn't have moved. Neither of us can fathom why tires that appear nearly new would make a chirp sound.

Any ideas?

I don't really feel like driving the 80 miles back to the dealership since they will only cover 50% of the parts and labor to fix whatever it is anyway. Unless, of course, this is something that my husband can't fix himself and will cost us more than twice the gas and time to drive 80 miles away.

 

If the tires were worn funny because of bad suspension parts, you could have a noise because of what's called cupping. I think that's the term. Depending on how your tires are designed, it may make the chirp you speak of

 

Yeah, when the noise follows the tire, suspect the tire. Cupped tires usually make a buzzing sound, but if its really worn in an odd pattern, I suppose chirping might also occur.

Check the tire for funny wear patterns by running your hand on the tread, you'll feel it, cupped tires have a wave like pattern.

I'd also take it back to where you bought it, ask them about replacing the tire/tires and checking the struts, shocks, and doing an alignment.

 

few other things ya might want to check. Hubcap/wheel cover. check for cracks (plastic) & make sure that it's attached securely to the wheel. try driving with it off (if ya haven't already). wheel itself. is it one piece? alloy, steel? Saw a 2 piece steely with a cracked weld where the center was welded to the rim. actually had to magnaflux the wheel to find it. are there any vibrations? check the bolt holes in the rim. all the same size, not one or two bigger or elongated? (ya'd know if all the stud holes were borked by the amount of fillings ya'd lose ...). Those are fairly cheap things to check. Replacing tire/rim? $$$ , especially if the chirp is still there ... another thought, try driving in the rain, wet pavement. if it sounds different in the wet, probably tire. if not, sounds same, could be the rim or i could just be blowing smoke outta my

 

yup, if you have hubcaps then try removing them. Squeaking hubcaps is common.

 

If you are having problems right off the lot.....wait for it...... take it back and complain.

How would the noise move from Left front ti Right rear? Read the Owner Manual in the section on tire rotation.

 

The dealership that rotated the tires told me (if I followed them correctly - I may not have) that front tires are moved back and back are switched when they rotate tires. I will say that, before the tires were rotated, it was EXTREMELY easy to tell that it was the driver's tire... very loud if that window was open, and significantly quieter when it wasn't. Now that it's moved, you can't hear easily in the driver's seat. And of course, the back tires are BEHIND the moving vehicle at 40+ mph, and I can't drive and sit in the back to hear for myself which side it's on... I'm just taking my kids' word for it. I can't drive the car and sit behind the back wheels to see which side is louder.

So I'm 100% sure that it moved... but I can't be 100% sure that it is the back right. Not until hubby and I have a chance for one of us to sit in the back while the other drives, and move back and forth and try to see which side it's louder on. But since it definitely moved, then if I have the tire rotation order wrong, then my guess that it's coming from the back left is probably wrong too. It's one of those back tires.


The road are plenty wet today, so I'll see if that affects it.

The tires appear to be nearly new, if not completely new. That doesn't mean they can't chirp, I suppose. I'll check them for cupping when it quits raining. It doesn't have hubcaps.

But I'll have my husband read over this list so he can check these things out.

Like I said... if we have to, we'll take it back, but if it's something we can fix ourselves for $50, then that's much better than taking time off work (and losing money) to go up there during business hours, then get billed half of $500 (since the 90-day warranty is 50/50).

For what it's worth, the sound is closest to this youtube video... a little higher and "sharper" sound, and it's nearly impossible to hear at lower speeds.

(Except that ring he's talking about wouldn't have moved when the tires were rotated.)

 

We finally figured out what it was. The hubcaps or wheel covers or whatever they're called. They're the kind that you just yank off... there's this wire with clips around the end that holds it on with tension, sort of.

Anyway, one got REALLY loud when it rained... sounded more like squishing, though. My husband was concerned that something serious was wrong, so we pulled the hubcap off to look, and he had me drive really slow while he watched the tire.

Noise gone from that tire, but quieter chirps from the others that were now audible.

Took all four hubcaps off... no noise.

Put all four back on... no noise for a week or so, and then the chirps start coming back unless you bang on the hubcaps again to re-adjust whatever it is that makes them start chirping.

So I'm thinking the wire-like method of attaching them is allowing it to move somehow as time goes by.

And of course, they come off every time the tires are rotated, so that's why the chirping seemed to move in such an odd pattern.

So while it's still annoying, at least it's nothing WRONG with the car! I'm a bit surprised to find no more threads on this forum about this, though. I was hoping somebody'd found some way to make them go quiet. But I only found people talking about rattling bolts. (Mine don't rattle, and there are no real bolts on the covers to come loose.)

 

The reason nobody else has noticed is that you have a non standard wheel cover. Every one that I have seen are of the plastic bolt on variety, last time I saw the wire on kind was a 1970 Cadillac Coupe DeVille.

 

Either throw them in the lake, or wrap some duct tape over the attachment points & re-install..