Hi,

for a while ive been putting up with a low pitch cyclical rumble from the wheels (which wheel is hard to tell). Its defo part of the wheels since the sound gets progressively faster in line with wheel speed (sounds like whum whum whum whum...).

So therefore its probably either the wheel bearing or something to do with the brakes (ie discs).

Ive had it jacked up and rotated and waggled all 4 wheels, theres no play or rotational notchiness/graunching that id associate with a kaput bearing. The front discs are a tiny bit warped ie brush slightly on the pads in a repetitive fashion, but its so light that i wouldnt have thought it could cause the low pitch (and quite loud) noise while driving.

I know its almost impossible to help unless you could see or hear the car, but im off on a road trip of Germany next week and im debating whether to send it to the garage to get the bearings looked at (£££) or whether just to get some new standard discs and pads from ECP. So id appreciate any informed opinions.

cheers

If the noise stops when you brake it's the brakes, otherwise safe bet it's a wheel bearing.

Just also double check that the tyres have not worn "out of round".

I had a strange speed related noise on my VRS and it took me ages to track it down. The cause was one rear tyre that had worn out of round. I wouldn't care but I'd had it balanced at two different places whilst trying to track down the noise and neither of them noticed it!!

Just jack the car up and place something close ~ 1mm away from the tyre and slowly rotate the tyre checking the gap does not change much - I did this and the tyre knocked the block I was using over!!!

Replaced the tyre and peace and quiet returned.

I'd also reckon that its bearing trouble if applying the brakes does not stop it. Remember that modern wheel bearings do not seem to go slack quickly before making any noises - so it can be difficult to pin the noise down to a wheel bearing from just jacking the car up and spinning the wheel. On the subject of tyres becoming eccentric, I always spin the wheels and check for this at every service time - since I was lucky enough to buy a new car with NCTs that did this after 15 months - reason - something wrong with the compound as no casing fault/damage was found by regional Goodyear engineer. That rear tyre had a proper flat section on it!

I've got very similar symptoms on my car - I think from the rear axle but it is difficult to pin it down. The brakes are very noisy too when engaged with a scraping sound during operation and the rear discs look a bit scored even though they are less than 2 years old. It is booked in this week for a check up so I can report back if anything is found. I've already had a wheel hub replaced at the front so a rear wheel bearing wouldn't surprise me or possibly a warped disc.