# Front wheel squeaking



## 101Surge (Apr 18, 2012)

Yesterday when I was putting my bike away, I noticed slight squeaking when rolling it into the garage. Today, when putting it away it was noticeably more squeaky when putting it away. I didn't notice anything while riding, although I do wear headphones. I'm pretty sure the noise is coming from the front wheel area. I also noticed if I take the bike off the ground and spin the wheel, the front wheel does not spin freely for more than one rotation or less before stopping. Is this normal? The back wheel will spin indefinitely depending on how hard I spin it. Not sure if the front wheel just isn't supposed to spin freely, I've never really checked. Could it be possible that the rotor or brake or something is stuck? Brakes seem to work fine, and I didn't really notice much difference while riding, although come to think of it, yesterday I was thinking I felt very slightly slower than normal. What should I check and how should I fix it? I'm extremely new to wrenching on bikes so I'm down for the learning experience. 

I do want to mention that I had a small crash about two weeks ago. I took about a week and half off from riding, and have restarted riding about 3-4 days now, so something may have happened then and I didn't notice, not sure.


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## EABiker (Jun 24, 2004)

Give the front wheel a spin, and check to see if the rotor is bent. It should spin freely.


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## mack_turtle (Jan 6, 2009)

some front hubs have a rubber seal covering the bearings. if the rubber is dry and rubbing on the hub, it squeaks. if that is the case, a VERY CAREFULLY placed single drop of Triflow or a dab of grease should quiet it down. I say carefully because you don't want to get oils on the brake rotor.

make sure your axle is centered firmly in the fork (unless it's a thru-axle, which self-centers) and check that your brake caliper is centered relative to the rotor. you should be able to see daylight between the pads and the rotors on both pads.


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## Lone Rager (Dec 13, 2013)

Yep. Your break is dragging, for whatever reason: warped rotor, caliper needs alignment, crap in/around the pads, axle not seat properly in dropouts, etc...

Look through the caliper at the disc and pads. There should be a very slight clear gap on both sides of the rotor. If not, that needs to be fixed by aligning the caliper or resetting the pistons. Then look as you spin the wheel. You'll always see the rotor move side to side a slight amount as it's never perfect, but if it's causing noise or drag, the rotor should be trued.


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## 101Surge (Apr 18, 2012)

So, it was definitely rubbing on the pad. I opened it up as far as it could go and it was fine, but now I had to squeeze the brake all the way to engage, which felt weird. So I put it back inwards a little and now there is just a sliver of a gap between the pad and rotor, is that ok?


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## rangeriderdave (Aug 29, 2008)

First question are they mechanical or hydraulic? What did you use to move the pads? If they are hydraulic, then they should be close after squeezing the lever a few times. If mechanical then you would need to adjust the cable or some brakes have a dial that you turn to move the pads. If you used something like a screw driver to pry apart the pads you could of damaged them. You most likely didn't fix the problem , because the pads will return to where they were at some point. Look on you tube for brake adjustment or rotor alignment.


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## 101Surge (Apr 18, 2012)

rangeriderdave said:


> First question are they mechanical or hydraulic? What did you use to move the pads? If they are hydraulic, then they should be close after squeezing the lever a few times. If mechanical then you would need to adjust the cable or some brakes have a dial that you turn to move the pads. If you used something like a screw driver to pry apart the pads you could of damaged them. You most likely didn't fix the problem , because the pads will return to where they were at some point. Look on you tube for brake adjustment or rotor alignment.


They are mechanical brakes. There was just what seems to be an adjustment hex screw for one of the pads on the caliper and I used that to back it out a little. It seemed to only have the adjustment for one side, although the other side seems to have a good amount of space.


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## phlegm (Jul 13, 2006)

101Surge said:


> So, it was definitely rubbing on the pad. I opened it up as far as it could go and it was fine, but now I had to squeeze the brake all the way to engage, which felt weird. So I put it back inwards a little and now there is just a sliver of a gap between the pad and rotor, is that ok?


What you describe is pretty common, but I admit you threw me off by calling it a "squeak". Rotor rub is typically a "scuffing" or sometimes "ticking", but then again everyone has a different way of describing things.


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## mack_turtle (Jan 6, 2009)

99% of the time, Park Tool tutorials have to answers for you. take a few minutes to watch this and maybe find a supporting video about "how to align mechanical disc brake" and got at it. I could type a 10-page guide to setting up disc brakes, but this is much more helpful: https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/mechanical-disc-brake-alignment


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## Jetta2010 (Jan 15, 2012)

phlegm said:


> What you describe is pretty common, but I admit you threw me off by calling it a "squeak". Rotor rub is typically a "scuffing" or sometimes "ticking", but then again everyone has a different way of describing things.


I regularly check to see if my pads are dragging by moving my bike just a little forward then backward slowly. If they are dragging I get a squeak. Easier than trying to see the teeny tiny gap.


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## phlegm (Jul 13, 2006)

Jetta2010 said:


> I regularly check to see if my pads are dragging by moving my bike just a little forward then backward slowly. If they are dragging I get a squeak. Easier than trying to see the teeny tiny gap.


Yep, know the exact sound you're referencing. I'm not even sure what I'd call it though.


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## 101Surge (Apr 18, 2012)

I backed it out a little more today and adjusted the cable.... although it seemed to loosen up again during the ride, but once I got used to it, it didn't really bother me... Bike seems to be running fine. I actually had to go the fastest I've ever gone in my life today because someones German Shephard decided it wanted to attack me... So yeah, I guess the bike is working fine.


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## Wincacher (6 mo ago)

101Surge said:


> Yesterday when I was putting my bike away, I noticed slight squeaking when rolling it into the garage. Today, when putting it away it was noticeably more squeaky when putting it away. I didn't notice anything while riding, although I do wear headphones. I'm pretty sure the noise is coming from the front wheel area. I also noticed if I take the bike off the ground and spin the wheel, the front wheel does not spin freely for more than one rotation or less before stopping. Is this normal? The back wheel will spin indefinitely depending on how hard I spin it. Not sure if the front wheel just isn't supposed to spin freely, I've never really checked. Could it be possible that the rotor or brake or something is stuck? Brakes seem to work fine, and I didn't really notice much difference while riding, although come to think of it, yesterday I was thinking I felt very slightly slower than normal. What should I check and how should I fix it? I'm extremely new to wrenching on bikes so I'm down for the learning experience.
> 
> I do want to mention that I had a small crash about two weeks ago. I took about a week and half off from riding, and have restarted riding about 3-4 days now, so something may have happened then and I didn't notice, not sure.





mack_turtle said:


> some front hubs have a rubber seal covering the bearings. if the rubber is dry and rubbing on the hub, it squeaks. if that is the case, a VERY CAREFULLY placed single drop of Triflow or a dab of grease should quiet it down. I say carefully because you don't want to get oils on the brake rotor.
> 
> Had a high pitch squeal develop in front hub of new Specialized Rockhopper, 100x9 QR, after only about 15 miles. After doing some online research and reading this post, I checked the rubber grease caps
> as suggested by this response and found one side was nicely lubricated but the other side, the one with the rotor attached, had virtually no grease in it. Applied a small dab of Slickoleum under the rubber cap, made sure it was sealed tightly, reinstalled the wheel and no more squeal! Thanks for the heads-up!
> ...


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## Wincacher (6 mo ago)

Had a high pitch squeal develop in front hub of new Specialized Rockhopper, 100x9 QR, after only about 15 miles. After doing some online research and reading this post, I checked the rubber grease caps
as suggested by this response and found one side was nicely lubricated but the other side, the one with the rotor attached, had virtually no grease in it. Applied a small dab of Slickoleum under the rubber cap, made sure it was sealed tightly, reinstalled the wheel and no more squeal! Thanks for the heads-up!


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