“Click-click-click.” That was the sound I heard when I drove my wife’s Toyota, maybe six months ago, for what was supposed to be a quick errand run. The frequency of the clicks increased as the wheels turned, and eventually, the sound turned into what could best be described as metallic nails against a metallic chalkboard. An independent mechanic and a dealership both failed to correctly diagnose what was wrong with the car. I only figured it out on Friday and my, the cause was profoundly stupid.
My wife’s 2012 Scion iQ has been a reliable workhorse since she picked it up in December 2023. Sheryl never intended on buying the car, but found herself in the car market after our friend wrecked the Toyota Prius we let her borrow, and her then-reliable BMW E39 decided that it was done being a daily driver.
Sheryl has driven her beloved ‘Ike’ nearly 60,000 miles in the time since getting the car. The folks of Toyota never designed her car to be driven 40,000 miles a year, but the Scion has done it without complaint. The only real failure we’ve had thus far, the gas pedal, occurred due to the car’s aftermarket cruise control.
Still, driving 40,000 miles a year is hard on any car, and issues are bound to crop up. In recent months, the CVT has infrequently and randomly stopped engaging and let the engine redline while not actually providing forward momentum. Restarting the car fixes the issue, and while both a Toyota specialist and a dealer have been able to replicate the issue, neither had any idea of a solution other than replacing the whole CVT. However, since the issue hasn’t gotten any worse, both have said to just send it. Maybe it won’t get worse, maybe it will.
Another big problem, at least to Sheryl, is the darn racket the car has been making for the past six months or so. Now, I’m not particularly bothered by certain sounds as long as I can be fairly sure it isn’t serious. Sheryl had taken the car in for numerous inspections, at every inspection concluded with a clean bill of health. Some advisories were usually noted, like the poor condition of the rear drum brakes, but the car was otherwise safe.
That was good enough for me, but not for Sheryl. The clicks began driving her practically insane. In fairness, six months of driving equates to about 20,000 miles for Sheryl, and that’s quite a long time to listen to non-stop “click, click, click, click, click.”
Sometime later in 2024, Sheryl finally had enough time to take the car in long enough to get an in-depth check-up. An independent Toyota mechanic had found that the rear drum brakes were basically spent. The hardware was rusted out, and the shoes had basically no material on them. The indy then spun the rear wheels, and sure, they did make a somewhat similar clicking sound when on the lift. He concluded that the sound had to have come from the drums.
We finally tackled the drum job a little earlier here in 2025. The car now has new shoes, new hardware, and even the drum housing has been replaced. It’s so nice seeing fresh parts. The sound even disappeared, so we declared victory, and Sheryl was happy to have her little ‘Yota back with even better brakes than before.
Then the clicks came back. The clicks weren’t as loud as they used to be, but they were just as persistent. At parking lot speeds, the clicks seemed to come once per tire rotation, and then the frequency increased with vehicle speed. I thought I had tried everything in my diagnosis book. I tried to see if the noise changed with the application of the brakes. I tried to see if the noise changed under cornering. I tried to see if the noise changed under acceleration. I even intentionally hit potholes to see if the noise changed under shock.
Your only hint is what’s missing from the picture below:
I did notice that the noise made a surprising change under the shock of a bump. If I hit a pothole, a distinct metallic scrape and rattle sounds followed the impact of each axle into the pothole. But aside from that, no sort of braking or handling maneuvers changed the clicking noise. The noise always started immediately upon rolling and didn’t stop until the car stopped.
On Friday, I discovered the cause, and it made me do the biggest facepalm I’ve done in a long while. That day, I drove into Chicago for a doctor appointment. Don’t worry, I’m in good enough health! I also got to see this wicked imported Nissan truck. I love that someone is using this thing like a quirky alternative to a Ford F-Series.
Anyway, I heard that rattle every single time I hit one of Chicago’s speed humps and driving in the skyscraper canyons only amplified the noise. It seemed like Cubs fans on every street corner were staring down Sheryl’s clicking Scion.
At one point, I stopped for gas. The pump was slow, and I got bored. Sometimes, I sort of just fart around, like I’ll kick my own car’s tires or check for an oil leak, or whatever. That day, I decided to kick the trim rings that decorate the Scion’s steelies. I was shocked when the trim rings immediately made a familiar click and scrape sound. I then kicked them faster, and my mouth dropped. No way, it couldn’t have been this stupid, can it?
See, Sheryl has had trim rings on her wheels for a very long time. Some of you readers have even complimented them! At first, Sheryl went with plastic trim rings, but these had a knack for popping off of the car after potholes. The ones that survived also had issues with the chrome finish peeling off. So, about halfway through last summer, she switched to trim rings made out of metal.
These rings have held on and keep their finish. They have a better latch design, too. However, I noticed that over time, the metal latches do get weak, allowing the trim ring to sit a few millimeters or so from the face of the wheel lip.
Sure enough, when the tires rotate, the trim ring moves slightly in and slightly out, making the scraping sound we’ve heard for the past six months. It also appears that when the rings do this, they also throw the wheels slightly off balance, making for a high-speed vibration.
Here’s a video showing the noise from just one of the wheels.
Still, “it couldn’t be this.” I thought. “Multiple mechanics didn’t say anything about any trim rings.” However, I had nothing to lose, so I took the trim rings off. Sure enough, it made an immediate, night-and-day difference. Not only was the noise gone, but so were the vibrations.
Sure, it doesn’t look as good now, but the peace and quiet seem to be worth it to Sheryl.
I also realized that in my attempt to diagnose this, I ignored the number one lesson I learned in trade school. When you’re troubleshooting a problem, make sure all affected parts are returned to stock condition first. That way, you can weed out modifications as the cause of your problem. I kept looking for brake problems, but never considered that these trim rings also rotate with the wheel and thus, could be the cause of an issue.
In fairness to the multiple mechanics who looked at this car, they did their inspections on lifts, and I’d be willing to bet that the trim rings didn’t do the clicking thing when no weight was on the wheels.
So, there’s a six-month mystery solved. My wife’s very simple modification became her own nightmare. For now, I’ve bent the latches back and the trim rings are holding ok. Long-term, I might cobble together some sort of securement using zip ties. I’m not entirely sure yet. Sheryl loves the trim rings, so I’ll figure out a way to make them work without her coming home one day unable to say anything but “click-click-click.”
Maybe this can be a lesson. The next time you hear a really weird sound coming from your car, check even the little stuff. You never know when a tiny, harmless mod is the reason for your misery.
Time to replace them with some plastic hubcap spinners from Temu.
I’m reminded of when I tried tracking down a squeak in the dashboard of my ZJ Grand Cherokee. I ultimately tore the interior down the firewall, and the squeak was still there! Turned out to be the transfer case shifter, and the sound bounced off the windshield and sounded like it came from the dashboard.
Whole weekend of work to figure out I just needed to spray some oil on the linkage.
Bought my teenager a car (8 yr old Camry bc I told her the only person getting a new Lexus was me….she was disappointed) and it had what sounded like a bad wheel bearing or tire on the front left. The price was really right and I’m handy enough with a wrench. An osculating gear noise to be exact. It had a set of old Michelin CC2 that I’ve noticed on other vehicles can become noisy. No biggie, replaced all 4 tires. Noise still there. Put it up on jack stands and let the tires spin. Doom on me. It sounds like it is coming from the transmission differential, slightly on the left side. I check the CV axles just to be sure it’s not transmitting noise back to the transmission. They seem solid. A transmission fluid drain and fill reveals nothing other than fluid which is consistent with 83K miles. So out of desperation, I change out the driver’s side CV axle. The sound is gone. I look at the old axle and the inner sliding joint doesn’t seem worn out and the outer is factory tight. I guess there was something inside the inner joint that was out of spec enough to cause some noise.
If my car made an osculating noise, we’d get a room.
Fair shot. That’s what I get for picking the first spell checker suggestion.
Got me to thinking. The Camry might be good wife potential, but wouldn’t get my turbo spinning.
This past fall (relevant) I set out on a day trip about a month after I got the car, which was in and some kind of flapping sound immediately starts on the highway. I cycle the windows to see if that helps, nothing; I had no intention to stop for the next 2.5 hours but pulled over to a gas station because I knew I wouldn’t be able to endure it. Park, open door, a small leaf falls out, problem solved. I think it was actually wedged between the doors, like it might have been pushed out by the back door closing yet pulled in the jamb while closing the drivers door. Silly but at least it wasn’t the car.
I always had some kind of noise from my VW’s front passenger seat. Sort of a rattle sound, maybe like a connector rubbing. But only when the seat was empty, light pressure on the cushion and it disappeared, even just my work bag for example. I could usually tune it out, never attempted to blindly just start reaching under the cushion and swatting things, and a more involved ‘fix’ might introduce another problem.
I also had an intermittent little rattle in my car for the longest time, it sounded like it was coming from the sunroof, so I kept checking and pressing things to see if I could figure it out, not once making a difference.
then one day I had taken out some change from the always closed(!) little junk pocket, noise gone. the whole time it was the noise from the change shaking in that little closed pocket that was bouncing off the sunroof.
We were using an ashtray (yes, old car) as a change holder on a minivan, and I didn’t last three days before I got some felt and lined that sucker!
My old Audi Coupe made a weird clunk somewhere near the door when making a hard turn. My fix at first was to anticipate it, later to propagate it. It was only when the window regulator died that I found the problem. A rusty hammer in the frame of the door. Original to the car? Had it been an 80’s GM, I would have no doubt. But an Audi? Still, I couldn’t see any indication the door had been taken apart, and the hammer had a good amount of patina, so I believe so.
I think many of us have shared the experience of being driven crazy by a loose little piece of trim.
Yesssss, this story and thread is like Car Talk. My soul-like inner self needs this right now.
My outback kept making an alarming :THUNK: noise that would occur ONLY when I either went over a speedbump, or occasionally hard stop. I spent a lot of time under the car looking, even had BBOB-wife drive over a bump, confirm that she heard the noise while I couldnt hear it outside of the car, and nothing else seemed wrong.
Dear readers? When we moved, a cool 70s era Rolling Rock pony beer bottle i had found during fieldwork had navigated out of its box to the underside of my seat, and the clunk was it rolling into the seat track. I discovered it when my daughter had thrown a bunch of loose crayons into the car, years later. Now its in my office.
Hi Folks! Let’s play “Can You Top This”? My Toyota Solara had a click noise….from inside the car! Good luck trying to find it when your alone in the car. Tried pressing on any interior part with my reach with no luck. Not much of a click but when your car is pretty quiet inside ??? One day had a car pool buddy riding with me and had him start pressing on various interior parts. The noise? Wait for it…the plastic cover for the dome light. Not the map light, the center overhead dome light. He pressed on it, CLICK! And the noise was gone.WTH? Now, if I hear that click, I just reach behind name and press on the dome light cover. Sometimes you need a passenger to ferret out a noise. Another time I found that I had a bad rear upper strut mount causing a rattle over any kind of uneven road surface. Friend in rear seat located it. Replaced both rear struts with complete units. Noise gone! Sometimes it takes a “ride along”!
Those struts will definitely let you know when they go bad.
That’s an odd one. I’ve had occasional issues with wheel covers but I wouldn’t have expected that kind of noise.
My best weird noise was a few years ago when my mom drove up my way for a visit and complained that her car was making a rattling noise. Her hubby just replaced the shocks and struts so they were thinking maybe something loosened up. I drove it up on the lift and found the last oil change shop (Walmart, probably) either stripped out or lost most of the screws that held the undertray on and it would bang against the floor.
The panel was still more/less attached but mad props to those 2-3 remaining screws that white-knuckled a few hundred mile trip. Easy fix but a dumb problem to have.
My 2015 BMW 328 had a grinding sound when turning left at speeds over 20 mph- basically any time the suspension had load on it in that direction. I took it to my mechanic, who happens to be a friend. After an hour or so of diagnostics (and a lot of circles driven in the parking lot), he found that there is a small plastic clip above the driveshaft that holds the e-brake cable. It had broken and the cable dropped ever so slightly and when the suspension compressed just enough to the right (while making a left turn), the cable rubbed the drive shaft.
It was a $3.95 part that required the drive shaft to be removed in order to replace it. $595 in labor later I was out the door.
It’s quite a revelation to think something that mundane or even silly ended up being the cause of a maddening noise the car was making. Yeah I do have to admit the metal trim rings on the basic steelies is honestly looking sharp, I like that look. Cute car, I like the IDIC plate and Starfleet insignia. Y’all should check out STSP if you haven’t done so already.
I had a click something like that years ago, but it would only happen at low speed. I finally realized a tiny pebble got caught inside this car’s metal hubcaps. At low speed, the pebble would bang around inside, but the spinning forces would stick it to the rim above a certain speed.
After reading that it happened once per wheel rotation my guess was going to be a rock under a hubcap. We used to do that as a prank back (1970s) when hubcaps on steelies were common. Also a ‘wire wheel’ hubcap that was coming apart would do the same thing.
We drove my parents nuts with that trick too.
My dad had GM vehicles back in the ’70s that had similar snap on rings. We lived in the country, and had 7 miles of gravel roads to get to town.
Occasionally small pebbles would get trapped behind the rings and make similar noises. Every year or so we had to pop one off and shake out the little rocks. Or I guess I should say I had to – the parents weren’t bothered enough by the noises to bother. It drove me a bit crazy, and I was just a passenger.
If it were me I’d ditch the steelies and get a set of alloys, but that kind of flies in the face of cost effective transport, so I can understand the desire to keep the steelies. They’re probably less prone to growing legs, too, which may be an important consideration given the nature of the work Sheryl does and where she does it.
Unknown noises are the worst. If I know what it is, and know it’s not catastrophic, I can handle it. But if a new noise pops up, I MUST find out what it is.
Latest one was slight rub/grind that was audible only at low speeds. Turned out to be a rusty brake rotor shield contacting the rotor.
“I’m hearing a flippity-flippity-flippity sound at low speeds, maybe from the wheels?”
“Found the problem, Honus Wagner rookie card clipped to the caliper. We took care of it.”
“Great, can I have the card back?”
I had a Yaris (same wheels) which would develop a killer shimmy when snow got packed in the stock, factory plastic wheel covers which was often given my then-parking situation. Eventually I took them off for the winter.
Throw away the trim rings and paint the steelies, either silver or a color that’ll work with the metallic blue.
Make an art project out of it. Paint on a silver ring to mimic the rings, and then clean up and get some glossy paint on the rest of the rim face. Or go wild and color match the center to the car like an old painted center cap.
I love simple fixes almost as much as that IDIC plate _\V/
My Bolt came with those Falken Sincera tires and I am pleasantly surprised by them. They’re quiet and had great snow traction this winter. I might not have picked them out if I was shopping for tires but maybe I would now that I’ve owned them a while.
Ha, I didn’t even pick up on that, but I just put a set of those on my Prius. Reviews were pretty universally positive and the price was right. Only a few thousand miles in, but I’ve been happy with them.
Had a similar issue with seat belts rattling in my Jetta a few years back, and again in my Bronco. Maddening I tell you.
Finally: a clickbait article at the Autopian.
Some geniuses realized clicking metrics are important to ensuring a sustainable website
Meh. At least it ends with something we can all relate too. It could end with “And I used Carly connected to my OBDII port to find out it was the $2000 injectors and this is why you need to buy Uncle Bob’s Awesome Extended Warranty for only $78 a month.”
Absolutely. I‘m glad the Autopian is the way it is 🙂
Don’t knock it. It generated a bunch of user involvement, telling their own stories.
I‘m glad it did 🙂
I had a friend with a fairly new Accord that made a banging noise, but only when it rained. She took it to her trusted mechanic, but he could never duplicate the noise.
Finally, one rainy day, it made the noise, so she took it in. He took it out, but no noise. She got in and drove away, and the noise happened! She turned around immediately and went back.
She got him in the car and off they went. Lo and behold, the noise manifested! He had her pull over, and he got out, went around to her side, opened her door, tucked the belt to her raincoat into the car, closed the door, got back in, and told her to drive.
No noise.
She was mortified, but he just laughed and said it happens.
Just this weekend I solved a similar issue, I thought I had some sort of issue with my front suspension that I just found out was really just a rattly glove box.
Sometimes with the way rattles and squeak bound off surfaces, it’s really hard to tell where they are coming from. I’ve definately spent time driving down the road banging on random dash panels trying to stop a rattle.
When I was working in quality for [REDACTED] there was a joke that the steering column was the noisiest part on the whole car because that is just where customers would assign any noise in front of them to.