Hey Laverne,
do you mean this ring:
or this ring?
Did you examine the condition of your ball screw thoroughly? Sometimes there can be scratches on it like shown here or here. However not every damage does affect the function of the balls in the ball nut. The fact that the noise appears only when you tighten the white ring and otherwise the machine runs well could indicate that.
You may also be interested in this issue and this issue
The purpose of the wiper in image 1 (there are two of them in every ball nut) is to keep dust away from the inside of the ball nut. However, since their effect is limited, it may be that you are interested in the wipers of Giancarlo (@Tuvix72)
See also: