gentlemen,for the past few days i have noticed this annoying knocking sound.I can only realy hear it below 1000rpms,mainly in second gear.its very faint,infact i cant hear it from the outside.its a very rotational sound- ie tap,tap,tap,tap like a shaft spinning, nothing appears to be rubbing underneath,does not get louder turning.My girlfriend thinks im nuts,but its driving me crazy.also changed my front pads and rotors today and am now getting a very slight sqeel when driving? i hate these noises.
thanking you all for any imput.
car is a 2.8 m,q.

 

Get the rock out of your tread.

 

no rocks in thread,maybe in my head

 

Does the noise only occur when moving? Does it get faster with speed, or with rpm, or not at all?
As for the brakes, do mean a squeel while braking, or just driving? I would give the brakes a day or two to seat the pads and see if it goes away.

 

yea going let the brakes bed in and see what happens,as for the tapping it seems to stay at the same pace,seems to only occur when in gear,moving,between 1-2000rpms,its very faint but its there.

 

Well, its hard to say. My best guess from what you have described, maybe you have a front wheel bearing starting to go, and its just not that bad yet. it would make a click-click-click sound for a while before it goes bad. usually its more pronounced when you turn the wheel, but maybe its just in the early stages. Good luck.

 

ok,hope it is just a bearing,will just have to wait and see if it gets worse.thank you for the imput.

 

I just noticed that my a4 does the samething... Its like a ting ting ting noise and you can barley hear it... I only can hear it in like 1st and 2nd gear. when rolling straight or going over the little plastic line dividers reflectors in the street. I cant hear it when turning... I thought it was a wheel bearing but it doesn't really sound like it, then again I dont know... Its only on the left side too... weird huh? let me know if you find out what it is because it is driving me up the wall... My guess it would be a loose brake cable or something...?

 

must be the passanger side bearing,jacked car up and did the old getto test,small bit of play in the wheel,when grabbed at 3 and 9 position.going to wait awhile and see if it worsens

 

3 and 9 position play means your steeringrack end or tie rod end is gone. 12 and 6 position means your wheel bearings gone.