Good evening.....first of all, I apologise for the long post! :-)

I've got a 2003 vRS with 50k on the clock.....About 4 months ago I noticed a slight noise on the motorway (I thought it was a wheel bearing, and still could be!?)It's gradually got worse and definitely needs sorting.

The car has just been MOT'd and flew through (I figured that if a bearing had gone they'd pick it up on the MOT?) The noise increases with speed, and doesn't go away if you take it out of gear. It also seems to change tone slightly when I turn right, although not much.

So I am thinking, possible problems;

- Wheel Bearing

- One of the belts / Friction

- Vibration?

- Fluid levels (Does the transmission have a separate place for oil to the engine?) If so where do I check this?

Only other thing is that I took a de-cat off and replaced with my cat for the MOT. Could this have caused it? Not bolted onto turbo tight enough? Heat shield welds broken and vibrating?

Thanks in advance, You might stop it from driving me insane!

Does it sound as if it may be coming from 1 side or from the middle? If from 1 side then find a quiet road and drive the car turning side to side almost like an F1 warming up. E.g. If the the sound is from the left then if turning right and putting pressure on the left wheel and the noise gets worse then its a wheel bearing. Vice versa for the other side.

Im taking it that you jacked the car up first and checked for play in the wheels. If so and you feel no wear or play in the bearing then dont worry, go out and do the experiment that i described above.

If the experement makes no results the the other possible problem is your differential bearings worn out.

Unless you are a very experienced mechanic then its not a repair to recomend trying yourself unless you just take out the gearbox and send to a transmission specialist. Diff bearings are only 20 quid but a bit of work to fit. VRS and tdi boxes are known for failing diff bearings. Hope this helps let us know how you get on. Colin

To me the symptom sounds like Drive shaft / CV joint.

I had very similar issue and although it did not get worse when turning which they normally do, the joints had run dry. Try removing your drive shaft gaters and packing first with grease and see if that quitens it down. If it does then you know the Drive shaft needs replacing

I noticed a droning noise from 30mph + when I 1st got my car. I was convinced it was down to a worn wheel bearing but it turned out to be caused ‘sawtooth’ tyre wear on the inner part of the tyre.

Fitting a new set of tyres did the trick for me.

It might be worth doing a quick inspection of your tyres before you go any further… costs nowt to do.

I noticed a droning noise from 30mph + when I 1st got my car. I was convinced it was down to a worn wheel bearing but it turned out to be caused ‘sawtooth’ tyre wear on the inner part of the tyre.

Fitting a new set of tyres did the trick for me.

It might be worth doing a quick inspection of your tyres before you go any further… costs nowt to do.

Good point cause I have the same with mine and I have semi slicks on it turned out cause of the compouind in the tyre it causes it to meke noise at speed....

Edited 14 March, 201115 yr by mountie66

Thanks for all the advice so far!

OK, so last night I thought I'd do the easiest test that RichOctVrs recommended, changing the tyres round (they needed doing anyway to even out wear) so it made sense to attack that first

It's difficult to say whether the noise is coming from the centre or from one side, so I started with the drivers side. Jacked it up, took both wheels, and spacers off and put the wheels back on, no problems at all :-)

Next, I moved onto the passenger side, went for the locking wheel nut first..... Popped it on, started to slack it off and........snapped my locking wheel nut!!!! Absolute nightmare.

So my next question is: The locking nuts are McGuard which I know are good quality (bought them off someone one here with wheel spacers – but forgotten who it was) Do they come with a guarantee, the problem is that I now need to remove a broken wheel nut from my car (I’m hoping that drilling it out isn’t that only option – any ideas)

Falling out with my car a bit now….Whining noise, broken wheel nut, and a leak – I hope you guys can help me restore my faith in the vRS and not go back down the path of buying an Mk4 R32

Does anyone know what I should be looking for with this "Sawtooth" on a tyre? The noise has got worse now, and gets a lot worse when I turn right (it goes a lot quieter when I turn left)

Not got the locking wheel nut of yet, but going to get my mechanic to do it all in one go......What's the verdict then if it does it more turning right; Wheel bearing or CV Joint....or manybe still the tyre?

Cheers!