Hi, sid. There is just the slightest (constant) ting when I spin the wheel with the caliper off (maybe something inside the tire itself?,) but it's not that grinding noise that happens when the caliper is attached. I hear it, but I don't know how to explain the noise I hear with the caliper off. It seems like I should only be able to hear my hand hitting the tire and the air as it is being forced around by my hand at first, similar to what I would hear with a bicycle tire, but I'm hearing more than that. (But what do I know, right? I've never had a scoot before.) I don't know if a mechanic that just replaces what they're told to replace would know what it is at this point or not. It may be that it's just not bad enough or loud enough yet. But, someone that rides their own scoot and has encountered a similar front end problem before, would surely know where to start with it. And someone riding daily on a scoot with no problems will recognize there's a problem right away if they try to ride this one.
Sometimes, with a car, I can hear a noise the fan belt is making 4 months before it actually makes a higher pitched noise and decides to snap off. (And then it snaps off going along a highway up a mountainside with very few pull off areas by myself, lol.) Drives me crazy when I can't figure out where a noise is coming from. It seems to be harder for me than actually waiting to gather enough money and fixing the actual problem(s).
Honestly, if I had the money, I would just begin replacing the four or five things that Could be causing problems until it ran smoothly again as it did the first couple days I had it. It ran as smooth as the road I was riding it on then and that seemed right to me, even though I never had a scoot before. The last time I had it out, though, (on the same roads) it seemed to me that the front wheel wanted to turn one way, when I was actually wanting it to turn the opposite way, and it wanted to send off a vibrating bounce here and there where the road was smooth and straight. That could get dangerous rather quickly. A terrible disappointment.
I don't remember exact prices, but I think the wheel bearings were around $25, a tire around $50, a brake assembly including a disc is probably around $100, just pads probably around $20 or $30, don't know about steering bearings, or shocks or other things yet. And of course there's a lot of shipping and waiting involved for each part ordered if doing things one at a time. Could be six months before reaching an answer that way.
What I
don't want to do is say, replace the caliper (or something else) immediately, then find out that it goes bad again because it was something else out of balance that was causing it and have money wasted because I have to order and replace
another one. That's probably why I was asking if anyone had any tests in mind to rule out a problem with bearings, brakes or any particular part. If I find any I will be sure to post them.
