Thread: Horrible screeching noise (1989 4 door)

On the way to work the other day, we had an 'incident' and suffered a solid hit on the passenger side. Visible damage is the front passenger door is stuffed including the hinges, a corner of the rear mudflap was ripped off and the tow-bar tongue was sheered off so the tow-bar itself is now bent. We had the bolts replaced on the tongue so we could get the trailer back on the car and there was no problems with the trailer back on the car but the screeching noise started to happen after driving 150KMs without the trailer attached to the car.

A visual check over the undercarriage etc revealed no other obvious damage. The noise seems to be coming from the passenger side, towards the rear of the car and happens intermittently at speeds of around 60-90KM/H, lasts only 2-3 seconds, has minimal impact on driving apart from a barely noticeable resistance and randomly happened 5 times last night in a distance of roughly 100KMs. It appears that the only factor in the occurrence of the noise is speed - direction and road surface make no difference.

I will be checking over everything again but am seeking opinions on what the cause could be. No drivetrain or suspension components appear to be bent or rubbing on anything, nothing is rubbing on the tyres, all bushings and body mounts look ok and there is no damage to the floor or chassis that I can see. It seems as though the tow-bar took the brunt of the impact, followed by the front door, the plastic sill cover isn't even damaged. But given the torn mudflap the only other thing that has come to mind is that the passenger side rear wheel/brake/suspension etc might have copped some impact but I have no idea as to what could have been damaged enough to cause the noise.

I would describe the noise as 'slipping fan belt x1000' and definitely sounds like metal rubbing on something.

Check the rear brake disc inner sheilds, famous for cracking, and impact may have shifted one just into touch with the brake disc.