Chased a grinding noise on a 2012 Focus for 8 hours straight

I had this Ford Focus come in a month ago with a nasty metal-on-metal grinding sound from the right front, figured it was just a bad wheel bearing. After swapping the hub assembly and still hearing it, I tore apart the entire suspension and found the backing plate was bent inward by maybe a quarter inch. Has anyone else had a tiny piece of metal take up half a shift like that?

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taylor.paige3mo ago

Hang on, did you swap the bearing before checking the backing plate or did you rule it out first? That quarter inch bend would definitely make that sound though...

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keith2643mo ago

Third shim from the driver side was cracked on a 2018 F150 I worked on last month, same kind of whining sound under load. @taylor.paige that bend in the backing plate could be causing the bearing to sit crooked and wear unevenly before it even spins up. I'd pull the caliper bracket and check the snap ring groove on the hub too, saw one where a burr in there was making the bearing bind.

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