Noise Filter

John's been driving his newer car for over a week. I asked him if everything was OK with it. "Yeah. It's OK." He paused.
"It sounds like there's a but coming," I said. "Well, it's just that there's this noise. It's not all the time. It's there when I back out of the driveway. And then it's just intermittent. This sounds stupid, but the noise reminds me of a creaky spring. I don't know what it is," he finished.

Two years ago, I drove to meet John to switch cars. I got into his car, pulled out of the parking lot and heard a noise. A clunk and a screech. I took my foot off the accelerator to see if I could hear it again. BAM! The car stopped and dropped at the right front corner. "What the..." I got out to see what was up. The wheel had fallen off. I looked at the angle of the wheel to the ground and surmised a broken ball joint. There had been a noise in the car that he hadn't mentioned. He's improving.

When we went to the store later, John drove. He turned off the radio so we could listen for the noise. I heard it. It was coming from the right rear. It did sound like a spring. Hmmm. We listened some more. I missed it one time because I was relating this story:

There was a time that I was the Manager of Automotive Parts and Service at a retail outlet. A customer called me, concerned about a noise she was hearing after having front and rear brakes replaced the previous day. After the repairs were completed, she drove the vehicle home. Her husband then drove the car. She was driving it for the first time this day. The noise wasn't present yesterday. I asked her to describe the noise. When did she hear it? Did it ever change or go away? I invited her to come to the store so I could take it for a test drive with her. On the drive, I heard the noise too. It was an odd rattling sound. Not quite a rattle, and not a rumble. We drove to the next block. I leaned forward and touched the brakes. I heard it louder. I did it again but went harder on the pedal. I reached down, opened the ashtray and removed a golf ball. No more noise.

John pulled into the driveway and I heard that 'sproing' clear as a bell. "You know what that sounds like?" I asked as I got out of the car. "Yep, here's the noise," I said from the rear of the car, as I tightened the antenna.

No more noise.