Chaps,

As some of you may know I have a 2010 Octavia VRS Hatch with Weitec coilovers fitted. Ordered them from JKM mid-Feb last year (Great service by the way - would recommend them) and they were fitted by a company up in Scotland.

Had no problems since up to a couple of weeks ago.

I hit a pothole on the way into work on a cold rainy morning roughly 6 weeks ago (it is worth mentioning at this point that I have also got 19" wheels fitted, with 35-profile tyres). Nothing seemed amiss at the time, no obvious damage to the wheel or tyre, car seemed to drive fine (no tracking issues, braking in a straight line etc).

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and I can't shake the feeling that there is something not quite right. Again, car still drives straight (let go fo the steering wheel along a straight bit of motorway around 70mph and it doesn't track left or right, there is no vibration through the steering wheel that could suggest a balance issue). I sometimes worry that I am just imagining problems but I seem to hear a constant "woooo" coming from that corner of the car along motorways, and when traveling more slowly in & around towns I THINK i can feel a bit of a grumble through the floor.

The reason I ask, is that ever since I got the car it hasn't attracted any attention at all - and I like that. But in the last fortnight I have had two seperate instances where teenagers have been appearing to point at the NSF corner of the car when I drive past them, as if they are pointing something out to their mate. There is nothing else at that corner to see (i.e. no damage, no stickers, nothing) so I wondered if there is damage to the damper which is making the wheel 'vibrate' up and down inside the arch - i.e. the damper is leaking, worn or otherwise damaged.

Thoughts?

pop the bonnet, the push down on the bulkhead to depress the suspension as much as you can, release quickly and see what happens. knackered damper will mean you get "bounce". if it just returns to normal height without any bounce then the dampers are doing their job.

i would expect if you've knackered a damper you'd know about it.

Will do rob. I really need to get the wheel off and have a wee look round myself. I worry too that the far inside of the VMR rim might have a slight buckle, but again that wouldn't have been visible to the teenagers that seemed to have been pointing at that corner of the car as if they had 'spotted' something. One of the instances involved a pair of teenage girls, and you wouldn't expect them to be pointing at the car in a manner of "oh wow look at those big alloys", more a "oh wow look at that - there must be something not right there".

Ok just been out in the works car park at lunchtime and had the front near-side wheel off. No obvious damage to the inside of the wheel, or the inner shoulder of the tyre. No cracks, flat-spots etc on the wheel.

Use the wheel brace to poke/prod/push various bits of the suspension, balljoints, wishbone etc and no give. No play in the hub, so now not thinking wheel bearing, no obvious cracks or breaks on the suspension spring, no obvious leaks or damage to the damper. CV boots look all in one piece. Anti-roll bar bushes look all fine, and no movement when I prize them using the wheel brace.

Think i'll just wait now until the car goes into the place that fitted my coilovers last year and see what they spot or don't spot.

One of the instances involved a pair of teenage girls..

"Oooh, Sharon, look; 19" VMR 710's in gunmetal - I'd shag him!"

From my own painfully expensive personal experience, a wheel bearing can be wrecked and not have any play on the hub. I slid into a kerb in the snow with my near side front a few weeks back, which physically broke the wheel bearing. The garage that fixed it didn't believe me until they drove the car themselves because there was nothing to feel by wobbling the wheel about in the usual way. I doubt that the average child could spot that though

It could easily be a wheel bearing, but first swap the wheels to see if the noise moves with the wheel.

As soon as you said woo I was thinking wheel bearing. Jack up the car and spin the wheel whilst holding onto the spring, you will feel any bearing grumbling in the spring.

Jack up the car and spin the wheel whilst holding onto the spring, you will feel any bearing grumbling in the spring.

Damn he's good, see it's the little tricks like that which impress me

Why dont you get a friend to stand at the side of the road and drive past them.

Thanks chaps, I drove the car further than my daily work commute last night and there is definitely something not quite right, increased road noise, a low grumbling through the footwell and a slight 'wooo' coming from the passenger side - can't quite make out if it coming from the front or back. A bit more internet research tends to show increased road noise is either a wheel bearing or the alignment might have been knocked out with the pothole. Hopefully it'll be one of those two as they are reasonably easy fixes.

Get it to an alignment place for a quick check. They should be able to spot any wheel bearing issues as well.

Have you swapped over the wheels yet?

The other possibility is a delaminating tyre and that makes a similar sound.