My 2001 1.9tdi Fabia estate has recently developed a rather annoying fault. From about 30mph onwards there is a loud noise like tyre roar from the front. It winds up when accelerating and seems to whine down when decelarating either with or without braking. The worst bit is when going around a left hand corner when it gets really bad. However when turning right it fades away. The brakes are all fine and the tyres have been swopped around / replaced with no change. I have had the car up in the air and checked the front running gear with no play in any wheelbearings / drive shafts etc. I am beginning to think that despite the lack of play / visual problems that it may actually be either a wheel bearing or a CV joint to blame. Has any one got any ideas or had any similar problems? I just wish there was play in something so that I could tell what it was. I dont want to just throw money at it if I can help it. For information the car is fitted with its factory fitted five spoke Skoda 14inch alloy wheels and has never been modified in any way other than a Green cotton airfilter fitted. Oh and the noise is still there even when coasting out of gear ruling out the engine / gearbox. It seems to come from near the offside front wheel area.

I have been looking for solutions to this one on the net and have seen some similar faults reported after people have had accidents. Just to clarify for any nice people who wish to give me any advice I know the entire history of my car from new and it never gets kerbed and it has never been in an accident.

just check the bearings and bolts m8 mine was opposite side last month cost £50 to fix

most likely be a wheel bearing fault , even though you have no play, the bearing race gets pitted , this causes the noise

I had a front driver's side wheel bearing go at about 36k miles. Appears to be a weak point (like so many other things) on VAG cars. Needed a whole new hub, circa £150 to fix all in.

My 2001 1.9tdi Fabia estate has recently developed a rather annoying fault. From about 30mph onwards there is a loud noise like tyre roar from the front. It winds up when accelerating and seems to whine down when decelarating either with or without braking. The worst bit is when going around a left hand corner when it gets really bad. However when turning right it fades away. The brakes are all fine and the tyres have been swopped around / replaced with no change. I have had the car up in the air and checked the front running gear with no play in any wheelbearings / drive shafts etc. I am beginning to think that despite the lack of play / visual problems that it may actually be either a wheel bearing or a CV joint to blame. Has any one got any ideas or had any similar problems? I just wish there was play in something so that I could tell what it was. I dont want to just throw money at it if I can help it. For information the car is fitted with its factory fitted five spoke Skoda 14inch alloy wheels and has never been modified in any way other than a Green cotton airfilter fitted. Oh and the noise is still there even when coasting out of gear ruling out the engine / gearbox. It seems to come from near the offside front wheel area.

Hello VRSBUZZ,

Wheel bearing seems to be a favorite here, (previous entries spot-on) as the vehicle load shifts from inner to outer bearing, noise will emitted on offending bearing.

As various vehicles will have different bearing set-ups, they both (inner&outer) must be replaced, and whilst your'e at it, renew the CV (Constant Velocity) gaiter, same time. Will be easy for confident DIY mechanically minded person to repair and carry-out.

It might be worth mentioning the inner CV joint is prone to failing so you could include a replacement CV together with your CV gaiter as a complete kit? Unless you have had the front CV replaced recently?

Good-luck. Ian. 10/04/2009

As others have posted, the wheel bearing sounds to be the problem. I would check the offside front wheel bearing / CV joint as when turning left the load shifts to the offside of the car. The problem with checking bearings for 'play' when the car is jacked up is that there is no load on the bearing and the fault might not be obvious.

Front offside suspension spring snapped as I got into the car the other day as well. Have had this sorted along with a change of offside front wheel bearing and problem sorted. Many thanks to those who took the time to reply. It seems that the new bearing has been heavily modified by Skoda compared to the old one so this has obviously been a weak spot on the cars.