I had my car in for service a few weeks ago and this morning heard a noise. Stopped and investigated; right side rear wheel has a cover over the disc that seems to have fallen off/down: Left side doesn't have one at all: Car has 375,000 km on it so I am guessing at some point the techs simply removed the one on the left... and the one on the right has now rusted away to the point it has fallen down and is now causing an interference. My question is: Can I simply remove this myself by just taking the wheel off? Or is it much more involved than that? Is this part necessary? Thanks, -Iain
You might be able to reach up there in there with a small pair of snips and then a pair of vice grips might be able to pull it off. Other than that take the wheel off same pair of snips and vice grips and you'll be able to trim it off enough so it's not a bother and he sharp metal standing just bend it over with a hammer small hammer peen it over. Or you can take the bolts out of the rear hub and tap it forward and go through all that dance I certainly don't think I would do all that for this problem looks like you're in a rust area Western Massachusetts somewhere where there's a lot of salt on the road been there done that. Usually when I live in those places like Western Massachusetts and I'm doing the wheel bearings I just leave those shields off and anything else that's going to rust away.
Thanks for the reply! I ended up quickly taking the wheel off and the remaining "C" of the cover just slipped off in my hands. I made sure that there was no debris lodged in the caliper and put the wheel back on.
Yes Yes the tabs for the bolts have rusted right off It's basically a c like the letter You should be able to grab it with a pair of pliers and withdraw it maybe even with the wheel on if you're about that and then just chuck it like a frisbee to the trash can.
What kind of servicing did they do? Seems that if they work on your back wheels and didn't address this, you could make an arrangement with them to address this in a way that saves you some money and ensures your car isn't missing any parts? Those covers protects your break discs from gravel and road debris.
While they would certainly be nice to have, they're installed behind the wheel bearing if I'm not mistaken. I doubt many shops would comp a repair like that. Personally I'd probably only replace them if I needed wheel bearings.
