Random not CV joint problem!

[Technohedge]

So i went for a weekend away with the missis up the Coromandel this weekend. Took the Toyota even though i have some strange rubbing noises (suspected a cv joint, its not a wheel bearing)

Rubbing noise seemed to calm down on the trip, but as we got towards Thames it started knocking, quietly at first but then louder. Seemed to be knocking on every revolution of the wheel. My immediate thought was that its a dying cv joint which i had suspected before, with the knocking sound and all.

Anyways we drove miles down a gravel track and back and when we came back onto the main toad it was still the same, with a bit of a rubbing sound thrown in. We stopped for a bit and i had a quick look under the wheel area to see if i could spot anything, which was when i noticed my wheel nuts were loose!

3/5 were rotatable by hand and the other two still tightened when i put a wheel brace on them! After tightening the knocking completely dissapeared, which left me baffled for a bit as i thought it was the cv making the noise.

So i was completely baffled as to how the noise woluld occur with loose nuts, (and also how the nuts had worked loose !!) then i thought it could have been the brake rotor slamming into the wheel studs?

The holes in the rotor are large clearance and the disc is probably slightly warped as they're well used, so maybe it was the rotor holes smacking into the wheel studs?

Thats the only thing i can think of anyway unless loose wheel nuts can somehow aggravate a dodgy cv?

I havent had the wheel off yet to look at the studs but is the hub likely to need replacing even if the studs look ok?

[GDII]

I had 1 loose wheel nut once on the right front and the car would make a rubbing sound when turning left as the right wheel got loaded up. What happens is the wheel nuts also hold the brake disc in place so any movement will make it rub on the brake pads or worse the caliper.