Creaking Mavic Front Wheel – Stumped

Here we go, an interesting one.
Ive got a C456 with fox forks and mavic crosstrail wheels.
When I hold on the front brake and gently rock the bike forwards and backwards no matter what part of a revolution the wheel is in (eg not just when the wheel is at a given spot) I get one hell of a creaking noise. Really loud, plastic type creaking which reverberates around through hub and can be heard through tyres also.

I have done the following:

oiled all the meeting points where spokes meet hub and rim
taken off brake disc, greased the threads it and put it back on.
wheels are about 18 months old and rotate perfectly as per day one.

No noise, if not applying brake, placing front wheel up against brick wall and rocking bike.

Totally stumped, I can only assume bearings?

answers on a postcard pls 🙂

Ps. noise is also heard when wheel is off the bike and using the disc removal tool to tighten disc.

Don’t know if this is the same, but a recent client had the same thing. It was cured bu popping out the hub adapters and popping a bit of grease on them where they seat into the hub.

Worth a try.

Are you’re brake pads in really good nick,not contaminated etc ?
I wouldn’t grease the threads on the brake disc bolts,in fact they usually have a blob of loctite on them.

Brake pads moving against the piston?
Try a dab of anti-seize (copperslip) on the backs of the pads (not the fronts 🙄 ) where they contact the pistons.

It also happens when you have the wheel off and tighten the disk (shimano no bolt rotor)by hand with a wrench so definitely not pad related. Very strange. Will try non disc side hub adapter 🙂

It also happens when you have the wheel off and tighten the disk

Is that not where the problem lies then?

indeed but the hub is all one piece. I think it may need a trip to the service centre. I am now starting to think there may be a crack on the inside of the hub casing somewhere. my two local bike shops who know their stuff are also stumped. after this I will never go factory wheelset again, right pain in the you know what.

I don’t think the problem is the wheel. It could be the centrelock adapter or the disc (especially if it has an alloy spider).
I had a very similar problem that turned out to be the disc moving…it only happened when rocking the bike back and forth too. See if your wheel still moves slightly when the brake is locked on.

Problem solved and Mavic have been excellent.
My LBS decided the only thing it could be was some kind of bonding issue in the assembly of the hub. It was sent back to Mavic who have just sent me a brand new 2013 wheel to replace it. Slightly different design and no centre lock (they dont do the centre lock on this wheelset anymore) so Ive strapped on a 6 bolt and…..sorted job done, no more noise.

great stuff. The old wheel was 18 months old so a brand new wheel I think is a good result.