Hello all, first time poster, long time lurker.

Have owned my XK 5.0 for a year and a half now and still enamoured. However, there's a chirp developing from one of the passenger side wheels (hard to tell whether front or rear). Driving in a built up area, it reverberates off parked cars/walls and is a bit of a nuisance. Some observations/things checked:

• Begins at very low speed (crawl), but only in drive. Doesn't happen in reverse.
• New sets of brake pads on both front and rear. Discs still have plenty of life in them.
• Bearings checked for play, rock solid. No diminished drive quality or other indicators its them - While I could replace, I'd rather this be a last resort due to cost!
• Have taken out the wheel hubs to check it's not something caught/rattling around inside there.
• When it was up on a ramp, I tried manually turning each wheel and nada. Only seems to happen when they're under load.
• Jaguar specialist I take it to is stumped and has mooted the possibility there's something inside one of the weels

 

Without being there…. The spring isolators.

 

I haven't been under one of these so I could be way way off on this one, but does it have those little dust isolator pieces of metal that are sort of like a good over the ball joints? It's a thing sheet of metal that sits between the ball joint and the knuckle. Only asking because I have symptoms very much the same on one of mine and it is because of this piece. It is loose and turns and rubs.

 

I had a chirp that seemed to be coming from same areas. It was my e-brake cable rubbing up against the frame. They put some insulation over that area and the chirp stopped immediately and has never ever been back.

 

Thing to do is check the rotor and hub runout with a dial indicator if you haven't already. I just recently fixed a chirp, chirp, chirp on my Corvette. No indication of play just by manipulating it but a bearing was worn and it made for about .005 thou at the edge of the rotor but just enough to chirp once each revolution after it warmed up.

 

Thanks folks, some good suggestions to consider

 

Does the chirp change or go away when you apply the brakes?
.
.
.

 

Still chirps when I apply the brakes - My specialist has gone over the calipers/rotors when he changed the pads and is confident it's not the braking system as a whole.

Had a passenger lean out (where safe) to determine which wheel it was coming from, and she thinks it's the rear.

 

Well I finally found what wheel it is - jacked it up this morning, put it in neutral and… squeak squeak.

New pads are on, no contact between shield and rotor, and the squeak is coming from the centre rather than the calliper.

Time for a new pair of bearings

💀