2009 Chevy Cobalt – ticking/chirping front left

I have a 2009 Chevy Cobalt LS w/ manual transmission, ~160K miles that I purchased recently. I have noticed a ticking/chirping noise coming from the front left after about 1 minute of having the car moving or traveling about 1-2 blocks (I’m about 75% sure it is coming from the *front* left, though I’ve only heard the noise while driving the car; I’ve not had it up on jack stands yet).

It almost sounds like a pebble stuck in the tread of the tire, but I have checked all of the tires and there weren’t any pebbles stuck in any of them. The frequency of the ticking sound increases and decreases with vehicle speed, not engine speed. The sound typically only happens when traveling straight, not when turning the wheel or doing the slalom test used to diagnose bad wheel bearings. Applying or releasing the brakes does not change the sound.

Just today I went out for a short drive and after traveling about 1 1/2 blocks I started to hear the ticking sound. After getting to where I needed to go, on the way back, about 3 blocks from my home, I had to wait for a train to cross. I stopped the car, turned off the engine, and waited about 3 minutes for the train. Once the train had gone, and I started to move again, the sound was no longer there and it did not return all the way to my home.

I’m not sure if this info is needed in helping diagnosis, but there is a completely different sound coming from what I believe is a leaked/blown strut on the right side on car. I don’t know if that will have any bearing on the sound coming from the left side of the car, just thought I would add that in case it turns out to be related.

I will probably be putting the car up on jack stands tomorrow to definitively narrow the sound down to a certain wheel.