Hi Fellas,
Hope you are all alright.
About a week ago I had a long drive across France and Switzerland (some nice photos later). While in Alps I noticed a strange metallic noise coming, I think, somewhere from the front. I could only hear it in certain circumstances, i.e.: when stationary switch to reverse gear and start rolling slowly for a meter or two. The noise can only be heard while traveling the first 1-2 meters and then disappears. Also, I drove up a small hill, switched to neutral and rolled backwards - no noise... So it only happens when in gear. When I came back to London, I heard the same noise when i took off at traffic lights (this time forwards ) but this time it was louder, so I think it is progressing.

The best way to describe noise is... metallic click/spring?

Any ideas?
I am booked in with Lookers Park Royal for tomorrow, hopefully it'll be sorted out. Vadim A.

I know you mention "only in gear" but could be something stuck in the hub? I had a stone wedged somewhere on my RRS and it sounded like grinding metal........just a guess.  L322 Big Daddy SUPERCHARGED 5.0 Autobiography - Here & Now!

5 series for the miles

RRS S/C factory built HST - Gone

45 others have been and gone!

thats exactly what mine did when i cam out of the water see the burghley water pictures... I took it to the jet wash and powered washed the wheels it resolved the issue.

Hope that you get it sorted out !

Will look out for the pictures 

SiberianFox,
I saw your photos, I liked the 1st one the best.

A stone... Well that is going to be interesting if that's the case. I am taking my RRS to LRP anyway to change for summer tires. Actually I was quite lucky with the winter tires. There still was a lot of snow in the Alps, and I was trying to go through to Italy, but the road was closed high in the mountains due to snow...

Thank you for your posts.

I tried posting some photos last week, but I think they are too big. Will resize and try again. Vadim A.

Just got the car in to Lookers, went for the test drive with an engineer. He says it could be the drive shaft, after the test drive he looks at te tires (I have snow tires installed) and says the tires could be the cause for the drive shaft get like that "noisy". They'll put on summer tires and see if it still has the problem.

Not a happy bunny... The fact that he pointed out to tires right away concerns me... Vadim A.

Hi all. First post about my shiny new RRS 2011 HSE - only had her 6 weeks. Tonight I had EXACTLY the same problem as Vadim which was a really loud metal-on-metal sound from the front right wheel when moving really slowly - especially in reverse. The car has just been collected and sent up to my dealer Hammonds for investigation, but as the car is only 6 weeks old, and is factory spec, I know it can't be the tyres.

I also noticed that the car doesn't raise at the front any longer (only the back raises) so I am not only a little perplexed, but also a little worried.

Any other ideas?

I had this mettalic sound apparently coming from the front ..turned out to be the bearings on the rear diff on their way out..diff eventually changed by dealer

dealer apparently has test equipment to trace sources of noise..get them to use that

Thanks for that. The car has been delievered to the dealer so I should have some feedback hopefully tomorrow as to what they think the problem is.

I accept that cars develop faults, but I hope that its nothing major especially seeing as its only six-weeks old. That said, I suppose my HSE does have a three-year warranty thankfully!

I got my car back from Lookers. They said they took apart the drive shaft apart and found some dirt on it?... so they cleaned and lubricated it nicely and put back together which hopefully should cure the problem. On the way home, again when reversing, I heard the noise again...Also, I noticed that it can be heard when moving forward (from stationary), however it is more common to hear it in reverse. Also, I heard I think the same noise when lowering to access model. I can actually see how Lookers thought they'd fixed it because it can only be heard every 5th time when reverse is used.

I will definitely take it back to Lookers some time in the future. They are so far away from where I live, so quite annoyed to be honest. Vadim A.

Phone call back from my dealer at 5.30 to advise me that they can't find anything wrong with the car. It was making the metal on metal sound first thing this morning but after having the car up on the ramp, the noise stopped. Anyway, Hammonds will take another look at the car first thing in the morning and if it still is not making a noise, it will be returned.

Think I'd be more comfortable if they had actually found a problem...

I'm getting mine looked at tomorrow for the exact same thing except mine has gotten to the point where the noise is really bad. I believe it is a front passenger wheel bearing that is loose but I will find out tomorrow and do a follow up. The front wheel assembly was loose when I pulled the tire off and I noticed the rubbing noise was the rotor metal grinding to my brake guard metal and did it mostly in reverse too at first but now is really loud, especially over small bump. It looks like I will need new rotors too since they are caved in a bit where it was grinding with the guard. Mine is 5 years old though, not 6 weeks like Portman. I'll post back in a couple days.

Mine certainly appeared to be coming from the driver's side front wheel, but since having the car back all is fine. I do know that my dealer changedall of the brake pads on all four wheels so not sure if that has anything to do with it or not.

Anyhow, if it happens again, it will be straight back for further investigation.

Let me know how you get on. Good luck!

Hey Portman, yup it was my wheel bearing, had to get rotors replaced too as well as a bunch of other stuff with the RRS. Lots of grinding but now all gone.

Not sure if the grinding stopped because they repaired it or because my wallet is a lot lighter and less load on the RRS . Hahaha.

All good now and wifey is happy again.