Lately as I've been driving and making right hand turns I've been hearing a very loud crunching noise. Loud enough that my wife knows when I'm turning into my driveway while she's sitting in the living room.

Anyway, I took my truck to our local tire place and the owner said he thinks it could be the center cap on the rim. I removed it and.. sure enough, the noise quit.

It's the front-driver side tire. I also switched the center cap with a different one on the truck and the noise remains. What can be causing this?

Is this something that can be fixed? I don't mind driving around without center caps but it makes my truck look quite cheap.

These are the rims that I'm speaking of.

 

is the center cap loose? when you say you switched center caps do you mean you swapped it with one from a different wheel or one from a different truck? if you swapped it to a different wheel did the noise switch to that wheel?

 

I swapped it from another wheel on my truck.. and the noise remained on the same tire. Which is what's throwing me off.

.. and it only does it when you're turning the wheel to the right.

 

check to make sure all the lugnuts are tight and not visibly damaged. you may also have some damage to that wheel. try swapping the wheel to the opposite side and see what happens. the fact that it does it on the same side with a different center cap suggests that it isn't the fault of the center cap. the fact that it doesn't make the noise when a center cap is not on the wheel suggests that there is a problem with the wheel or lugnuts themselves and only makes the noise when the "pressure" of the center cap is on the lugnuts. hope that makes sense.

i'd be looking at lug nuts or the wheel as the culprit for the noise. possibly (though less likely) the studs.

 

I will check out the lugnuts just to make sure. Obviously there is some type of pressure that's making the plastic center cap make that noise.

I wonder though, do you think switching out that tire for one on the back (stationary - do not move left to right) would solve the issue without costing much money?

 

you could try that as a temporary fix. but i would keep a close eye on it, check the lug nut torque once a week or so just to be sure. also, remember not to rotate the tires or you'll be back in the same situation.

 

Alright. I'm only trying to get by until this December. By then I'll have new rims and tires on the vehicle.

Is there some type of torque gauge that I can buy to make sure the lug nuts are tightened properly?

 

not really a gauge but you can buy a torque wrench that tightens bolts to a certain torque (it's adjustable) you can get them from harbor freight for as little as $20. that will work fine for occasional home use. mine was about $400 from snap-on, but i use it all day every day.

 

Ah!

Well thank you very much for all of your help!

Would you advise taking the truck to a shop to have the tires rotated or is it something I can do on my own without too much worry?