Squeaky Hubcaps or Weak Wheels?

My 49 Plymouth has had an annoying chirping sound whenever the car rolls. It sounds like squeaky rubber, and I thought it was the nylon wide whitewalls.

Today I rolled the car a bit by hand with the motor off. As I did, I felt the left front hubcap and discovered that I could feel the chirps. Every time the chirp sounded, I could feel it in the hubcap.

WTF?? Does this mean that my wheels are flexing? I had a steel wheel fail once at speed, twice actually, and both times it was very exciting.

I pulled the four hubcaps (full covers) and thoroughly cleaned the wheels and the backs of the hubcaps. I found some smudge on all of the tabs - a greasy tar-like buildup that took a scotch-brite to remove. I also bent all of the tabs outwards a bit. With the hubcaps reinstalled, the chirping seems gone when I roll the car by hand in the garage. I have not driven it yet; hopefully the annoying chirp is gone.

My *REAL* concern is why there was a chirp at all. Smudge or no, that would seem to mean that the wheels flex slightly as they rotate. Now I know that in reality everything flexes - lean on a Bridgeport, and it flexes. But we are talking about microscopic movement. If my wheels are flexing enough to make a sound, should I be concerned? BTW the wheels are excellent originals with no rust and no sign of ever having been damaged.

 

My bet is on squeaky hubcaps. If you adjusted the tabs and that seems to have fixed it, then I think you got it taken care of. I hope!

 

I'm going with hubcaps also. Pretty common. Bang them, adjust them, hit them and they will likely quit squeeking. Until they start squeeking again.

 

What i did was drive without the hubcaps on... pick a sunday morning so youre not showing off your nuts... Still squeaks... its the wheel problems... no squeaks... its the hubcaps

 

LOL. Yes, I think that you are both right. I'll bet that when I drive it (later today) the squeak will be gone. My concern is whether the amount of wheel flex that can cause a hubcap to squeak is normal, or if my wheels are bad. What is your opinion?

 

I forgot to mention - yes, I tried that. With the hubcaps off there was no squeak.

I just need to stop worrying that there is something wrong with my wheels that allow them to wiggle enough to cause a hubcap to squeak.

 

It's either normal or there are a ton of old cars out there with bad wheels. Odds are very high that you aren't in any risk of your wheels breaking.

My dogdishes would on occasion squeek and there is no way I was getting much flex in the middle of the wheel.

 

Thanks, that's what I needed to hear. For whatever reason I have never encountered squalky hubcaps before, so I didn't know. I have, though, twice lost a wheel, but both times there were other things that caused the problem. I am just a little gun-shy about losing another wheel. But, again, these wheels seem perfect and I know that the suspension, bearings and so on are all in good shape.

 

Check your bearings just to be safe . I heard a squeeking noise in a water truck I was driving on the freeway just before the tire , wheel , hub and drum came off when the bearing disintegrated and I rode a quarter of a mile on the backing plate . Just to make it interesting I was going down a long , steep hill and right next to a 600' high 45 deg dropoff . Ground 2" off the bottom of the plate . Was a great wall hanger .

 

I know that my wheel bearings are good as the car just went through a major brake overhaul, and everything was checked.

Your 'loss' sounds like the first one I had. A front hub was failing, and it flexed upwards. This caused the brake linings to rub the drum. I was doing about 60, also on a long downhill stretch, and I smelled burning brakes. I got to the end of the straightaway and made a right onto another road. And then there goes my wheel, drum and hub, rolling past me and into an orchard. I was going pretty slow by that point so there was not really any damage to the car.

I repaired all the damage - hew hub, drum, bearings, etc. - and then a while later was out with the car doing 75 mph on a parkway. I felt a vibration, so I pulled off right away at an exit. As i drove around the exit ramp, a tight right hand turn, I steered onto the right shoulder. As I slowed the right front again came apart. The wheel and tire rolled under the right side of the car and caught in the right rear fender well in front of the tire. The center of the wheel had broken off - the center part was still bolted to the front hub. Yes, this was the same wheel that was on the car previously when the front hub failed. So, obviously, that had caused a problem in the wheel and it later fatigued and failed. I put the spare on and drove home.

This was on a 48 Willys Jeepster 2WD station wagon that I had pulled out of a Texas lake. I installed a 283 Chevy, cast iron Powerglide and an early Camaro rear. Later I upgraded to a 350. But that car lasted me for years and years, commuting long distances, commuting in NYC, you name it, it did it. The only problem I ever has was in losing those two wheels. Finally the body rusted away (took 20 years) and that was that for the car.

 

Are you running radials or bias plies? I was running radials on my original 55 Pontiac wheels and the caps would sqweak, chirp, walk around the wheel and pop off. I was told by an old Pontiac guy that the wheels were flexing because the radials wearnt as rigid as the bias ply tires. I recentally put disc brakes on the car and had to buy new wheels and drove the car about 1500 miles with no sqweaks, walks or pop offs.

 

These are bias tires. The squeaks would occur with the slightest movement of the car, way slower that the point a wiggly radial would start shimmying. But you make a good point and maybe it is wise to go to a later, stronger wheel when using radials.

I just got back from a drive. I am happy to report that the squeaks are gone! Finally! Now, on to a broken exhaust manifold.

 

The problem is that the old wheels were not hardened steel like the newer ones are. They naturally flex a little when they are rolling, especially when they are held together with rivets. Even more so when you run radials on these type of wheels. Radials tend to put the weight of the car more on the wheels because they don't distribute the weight as evenly as bias plies, thats why they "squat" more when fully inflated. Thats a completely normal thing with old cars. My front wheels are from about the 70's and are hardened, but my rears are from a '59 wagon, they squeak but the fronts don't. There you go.