Bad wheel noises: Busted front bearing? CV joint?

Got some awful noises coming from my front driver's wheel last night and initially thought I was getting a flat.

Pulled over to check, and wheels and tires look perfect, but the noise got worse as I headed home. It's a clunking that speeds with the car, but goes away when I accelerate - the more torque, the quieter it gets. It's the worst when I'm coasting. When I brake, a shrill squeal/squeek is emitted as well...

There's a bit of audible vibration in the dash/doors, but nothing in the wheel or the pedals - everything feels fine. I checked under the car and everything looks flawless - including my CV boot.

I've got no idea what could be wrong and can't talk to the dealer until Monday. Any ideas what it might be? The car seems to drive alright, but I am keeping it planted until I know what this is. I had to drive maybe 5 miles home last night...

Car has 2,500 on the clock and is a 6MT with 17" OEM Classix..

Thanks for any help!

May be a stone has lodged itself in the brake assembly.
I know from experience the noises it creates can be quite disconcerting if it is that.

Good guess. Would a rock cause the clunking noise though?

I'll try to take the wheel off tonight and see if I can find anything in there...

Yes your original comment about the 'clunking' sound did throw me a bit but I remember I thought I had a flat from all the noise it created at the time.
Let us know what it turns out to be..

Sounds dumb but are the lugs tight?

Well... a rock can only get stuck between the back of the rotor and a dust shield. And if I am remembering correctly, the fronts don't have dust shields. Only the rears do.

I'm recalling that off memory so I might be mistaken but I am pretty confident when I say that.

Oh and Hi from GolfMKV.

I had to have the left front wheel bearing replaced on my Golf with about 5500 miles. It was making a roaring noise at highway speeds.

Mike mine have 'dust shields' at the front so I would have thought the hatchback would be the same ?

mtbr297 said:

I had to have the left front wheel bearing replaced on my Golf with about 5500 miles. It was making a roaring noise at highway speeds.

Click to expand...

Odd, mine went out at the same time!

StewartinND said:

Sounds dumb but are the lugs tight?

Click to expand...

You sir, win.

I would be embarrassed about this if I had installed the wheels myself, but I had a local shop switch my brand new ties to my custom painted Classix about a week after getting the car. (About 2,300 miles ago!)

I jacked up the car this morning to check for rocks or any sort of damage to my suspension and quickly noticed that every single lug nut was loose! Went ahead and took the wheel off anyway and couldn't see a damn thing wrong.

All lugs on all wheels are now tight as feck and the car is driving fine. whew!

Make sure to re-torque them after 100 km or so. They can come loose even if torqued properly.

-Luke