I noticed a burning smell coming from my driver's side front wheel.
There is also a lot more dirt on the rim than the passenger's side wheel. The edge of the center cap is black.
There is nothing rubbing against the tire.
The link below has photos of both front wheels.
Would this be caused by the bearing degrading or what?
That would be brake dust, it sounds as if your caliper is sticking, or your brake pads got a contaminate on them, time to remove that dirty wheel and look around a bit.
Bernard
Sticking brake caliper is a possibility.
If you have the burning smell of brake pads coming from the wheel, it's likely the caliper has failed and the piston is sticking. Time to pull the wheel and find out for sure. Solution is likely a rebuilt caliper and new rotor or having the existing one turned down if it will still be within wear limits.
Just looked at the pics, and why is one wheel all wet at the bottom? Is that just water, or is it brake fluid? If it's brake fluid, I wouldn't drive the car until it's fixed and even if it's just generating a burning smell, I would only drive it a few miles, slowly to get it fixed.
Its water from the rain.
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