My 2.0TDi Estate is just over 3 years old with 82K miles on it. Over the last 2000 miles or so i have noticed a droning noise between an indicated 60-75mph. It doesn't make any difference if I'm in 5th or 6th gear the noise is about the same - and in neutral which i tried too. Makes no difference if accelerating gently or quickly. It starts at about 60mph and get progressively louder upto 70mph then starts to fade. At about 78 or more it has gone. If i left off at 80mph the noise comes back at 75mph then fades as the speed drops, gone about 60mph.

Not sure if this could be a wheel bearing or not. In the past I've had wheel bearings replaced but then it was noticeable at lower speeds and became louder if cornering left or right depending which side the duff bearing was on. this doesn't seem to change when cornering.

I'm thinking I'll have to take it in to the dealer for them to have a listen.

Anyone else experienced this?

I just had something very similar which was offside rear Wheel bearing failure. Try loading, unloading by steering left to right on a stretch of new flat shiny tarmac. On my car it was louder on LH bends, and quiter truning right, so I figured it was on the offise, which it was. It's not cheap, the part was £180, plus 2 hours or more fitting. Total main dealer cost will be circa £300.

But, if its not there at low speed, have a look at the tyre tread - is it feathered? If so, maybe your wheel alignment is out, and this tends to appear as a resonance at certain speeds unlike a bearing which is there all the time.

Check your rear tyre wear. Insides will have worn more than the outside

Sounds like either a bearing or is tyre related as it still does it in neutral- if it's none of these try leaving the wife at home!

Check your rear tyre wear. Insides will have worn more than the outside

Shirley this was fixed by 2010?

my 06 vRS had a rear tyre wear problem, fixed after a 4 wheel alignment, where it was obviously way out causing massively uneven wear. It didn't appear to have been changed since it left the factory

Shirley this was fixed by 2010?

my 06 vRS had a rear tyre wear problem, fixed after a 4 wheel alignment, where it was obviously way out causing massively uneven wear. It didn't appear to have been changed since it left the factory

Was meant to have been fixed in 2007/8.

Ours hasn't had the issue, and I think most cases are down to people using too low/incorrect pressures.

People in work have it on their VWs, yet mines fine. We carry the same weight of parts so pressure must be the major factor.

Our octavia has the 17" upgrade and sports suspension which was meant to be the worst combination for inner wear. Neither set of Michelin primacy tyres have suffered from this. I've checked them regularly through paranoia

Shirley this was fixed by 2010?

my 06 vRS had a rear tyre wear problem, fixed after a 4 wheel alignment, where it was obviously way out causing massively uneven wear. It didn't appear to have been changed since it left the factory

I had really bad feathering on my 10 plate vRS. It was so bad from the outside the tyres looked nearly new yet on the inside edge they were worn completely down. On the motorway it sounded like both rear bearings were shot but they were infact fine. Real wheel alignment was miles out.

Another vote for the tyres and feathering.

Had exactly the same issue on a BMW I owned.

Dealer replaced wheel bearing, made no difference - I changed the tyres, noise gone.

My 2.0TDi Estate is just over 3 years old with 82K miles on it. Over the last 2000 miles or so i have noticed a droning noise.

Yep, on a three year old car with the sort of mileage, I'm betting wife or girlfriend.

Edited 20 January, 201313 yr by blackspaven

I had the same, it was a rear wheel bearing. When I swapped it out the old one had almost seized.

There was no play in it at all, but if you jack the car up and spin the wheel by hand you should be able to feel the difference between a good and almost seized bearing.

Geometry and sawtoothing cause a similar noise, but the bearing was a LOT louder.

Check your rear tyre wear. Insides will have worn more than the outside

Not neccesarily. My Leon (so same chassis) doesn't wear the tyres on the inside, but sawtooths them accross the whole width (you can feel it if you run the palm of your hand over the tread). It only does it with certain tyres too- the SC3 tyres I use now are OK, but the cheap, nasty directional ones it came with got *really* noisy after a while, and the winter tyres I'm using now have done it a bit. Mondeos do this too.

Does that not mean your rear toe is needs adjusting?

I'm getting the same at the back passenger side i'm sure its a wheel bearing, although going to swap tyres round for a week before stumping up for both rear bearings to get done.

Does that not mean your rear toe is needs adjusting?

Wouldn't that introduce uneven wear on the in or outside?

No, that would be camber.

camber causes that and its the bridgestone and dunlop tyres that wear worse than other brands

Scrubbing across the whole width suggests the toe is out of tolerance. Just get it checked on a Hunter rig, it is amazing the difference it makes to handling and fuel economy, and costs about the same as a decent tyre.

I'm getting the same at the back passenger side i'm sure its a wheel bearing, although going to swap tyres round for a week before stumping up for both rear bearings to get done.

I paid about £80 for unipart bearings, you can tell if it is the bearing if you give the wheel a good spin by hand, the side with the failing bearing will stop rotating fairly quickly in comparison to the good one.

No, that would be camber.

I've seen toe do that due to scrubbing sideways, or a t least, I was told the toe was out. Understand about camber wearing the inside/outside edge. I'll get the car checked anyway, i think, but I don't have any problems with Contis.

Scrubbing across the whole width suggests the toe is out of tolerance. Just get it checked on a Hunter rig, it is amazing the difference it makes to handling and fuel economy, and costs about the same as a decent tyre.

It doesn't appear to scrub, AFAICT. Just sawtooth the tread blocks perfectly evenly and straight. Someone on here once suggested it's due to the back tyres only ever braking, so one edge collects wear.

Sawtoothing is caused by excessive toe in and incorrect camber settings. It is more noticeable on some brands than others due to different tread patterns and different compounds.

Some sawtoothing on non driven wheels can always be expected, but to sawtooth across the whole width suggests you have a problem. Continental have a good pdf on it.

Incorrect pressures can also afffect it.

Had alignment checked at a service on Thursday at Midland VW- it was very slightly out. They noticed the tyres were sawtoothed, and said that in their experience it's very noticeable with some tyres, not with others- which is what I've found.

My vote for tyres, they had loads of tred left but they must have worn unevenly. Had this for thousands of miles and put up with it thinking it was bearings on the way out.

Swapped for new tyres and it was like a different car! So quiet!

If it is a bearing, and you get a Skoda dealer to change it, it will be around £320 or so all in. Find someone else to do it.

_Hmmm

_{I get a continual droning from my passenger seat at all speeds, especially after I've annoyed her...}

_{(I'll get me coat...)}

_;-)

I have suffered noise and thought it was a bearing, hence viewin this thread. I have an Octavia 2.0 Tdi and it has the standard Bridgestone 205/55/R16 tyres and I find them noisy. They are nearly down to the TWI's at 25,500 miles - don't know it thats good or bad? Was going to try Michellin or some other make to reduce road noise vibration.

BTW dealer checked and adjusted tracking so that element is ok.

Any advice on this would be appreciated.