Wheel bearing noise

[Raytheham]

Hi all. Just up to 50k in my is300h. Been doing a lot of commuting up to yorkshire lately. On some really smooth roads I noticed a sort of rumbling noise from the front of the car which varies with speed. On my old Morris 8 (showing my age-bought, it when I was 17!) this was exactly the same noise when the front wheel bearings were about to break up.

Has anyone else noticed this? With an aged parent up north from Oxford I am starting to have to do 440 mile round trip every weekend or other week and I am a little concerned, it might let me down.

Any ideas?

Regards

 Ray

[rayaans]

1 hour ago, Raytheham said:

Hi all. Just up to 50k in my is300h. Been doing a lot of commuting up to yorkshire lately. On some really smooth roads I noticed a sort of rumbling noise from the front of the car which varies with speed. On my old Morris 8 (showing my age-bought, it when I was 17!) this was exactly the same noise when the front wheel bearings were about to break up.

Has anyone else noticed this? With an aged parent up north from Oxford I am starting to have to do 440 mile round trip every weekend or other week and I am a little concerned, it might let me down.

Any ideas?

Regards

 Ray

50k seems too early. More likely to be something else. 

Have it looked at just to make sure but unlikely 

[Guest]

Sometimes it can be tyre wear noise that is the cause.

[wharfhouse]

Had something similar on a previous car with a noise from the rear that sounded like wheel bearings. The alignment was out at the rear which has caused the tyres to wear in a such a way that it produced the noise which was just related to the speed of the wheels on the road - couldn't tell easily from the tread wear that there was anything untoward but had it checked on a full four wheel alignment and it was out by quite a bit - had it corrected and new tyres put on and the problem never came back.

[Raytheham]

Thanks Guys

[gdh300]

Some modern tyres do seem to get notably noisier as they wear. Often more noticeable of course when the temperatures are low. I had a pair of Falkens on the rear of a Primera that developed a dreadful drumming sound; I was preparing to get a wheel bearing replaced but as it was late autumn I thought I'd switch to my winter tyres before I did. And hey presto, the noise was gone!

[Raytheham]

Thanks for all the information guys. I took it to the garage and had the alignment etc checked. The rear was ok but the front was a little out. The problem was that both the front tyres had 50 pence sized pieces of tyre worn  out/missing in several places. The explanation given was sharp edges of potholes causing this. Given the shocking state of the roads here in Oxfordshire I am happy to believe it. Two new Michelin SP4 s later the noise has gone.

Regards

Ray

[wharfhouse]

1 hour ago, Raytheham said:

Thanks for all the information guys. I took it to the garage and had the alignment etc checked. The rear was ok but the front was a little out. The problem was that both the front tyres had 50 pence sized pieces of tyre worn  out/missing in several places. The explanation given was sharp edges of potholes causing this. Given the shocking state of the roads here in Oxfordshire I am happy to believe it. Two new Michelin SP4 s later the noise has gone.

Regards

Ray

Glad you got it sorted - issues with tyres wearing oddly etc. and alignment can cause so many worrying noises and vibrations - certainly some chunks missing like that was most likely the cause of the noise you heard more than the alignment

[Mr Vlad]

Blimey Ray the roads down there sound terrible. They are the cause of the damage to your cars tyres. Personally I'd sue the council there for the cost of the tyres and balancing. 

Totally unacceptable negligence of road repair care.

[doog442]

Tyres aside and for the benefit of anyone who searches wheel bearing on the forum and happens upon the thread.

You will notice a back plate behind the calipers that sits extremely close to the discs. In time (probably too early yet for this generation of cars) the outer edge of the disc and / or the back plate will corrode.

The two can make contact (or can do if the back plate is damaged / bent)  and will produce a droning sound (usually on cornering ) . It sounds like the wheel bearings on its way out so worth checking. 

[gdh300]

1 hour ago, doog442 said:

Tyres aside and for the benefit of anyone who searches wheel bearing on the forum and happens upon the thread.

You will notice a back plate behind the calipers that sits extremely close to the discs. In time (probably too early yet for this generation of cars) the outer edge of the disc and / or the back plate will corrode.

The two can make contact (or can do if the back plate is damaged / bent)  and will produce a droning sound (usually on cornering ) . It sounds like the wheel bearings on its way out so worth checking. 

I can testify to that. Hitting standing water at speed can easily knock them about on the first gen IS, resulting in a wheel-bearing type noise. And yes, I did have one corrode through and fall off! 

[Raytheham]

Oxfordshire county council are the pits when it comes to road maintenance. This is not the first issue I've had with them. My previous car was a SAAB 9-5 3litre turbo. Two of the alloys on one side were damaged in a particularly bad stretch of road. I took photos of the potholes with rulers etc showing the depth, complained and tried to get recompense direct. Nothing, I then tried using the RAC legal department. The specious arguments that cam back from Oxon had to be seen to be believed, accusing me of driving too fast for the "road" conditions to previous damage.. all sorts. Eventually the RAC suggested taking them to the small claims court, which I did. I won but by the time I paid the court fees traveling expenses etc I received exactly £55.00, not even the cost of a quarter of one alloy. my insurance company were also less than helpful, subsequently changed.

Be warned, Oxfordshire roads are the pits...literally,

Ray