hi all,

i recently had my front wheels swopped with my rear wheels as I wanted better tread on the front tyres.

now when i get to approx 90 (overtaking etc) suddenly a strange noise starts, pretty loud and has a rhythm to it.

certainly didn't do this before.

after slowing down it does gradually go away.

could this be the wheel balance or tracking? i thought ATS would have balanced the wheels when they swopped them.

hoping its linked to the wheel swop and not something else.

many thanks for any thoughts.

Edited 8 February, 201313 yr by coiner

Wheel imbalance is more likely to cause steering wheel wobble more than anything, but I guess if they were really bad it could make it noisy too, sometimes there just happens to be a 'sweet spot' where the speed makes the vibration make a chain reaction and makes the driveshaft vibrate quite violently, also bear in mind that some brands of tyre are just naturally more noisy than others..

standby for your forum flaming from all the mother superior types for doing more than 70 in your car too.

Some tyres do drone at a specific speed, especially if they've worn unevenly. I've found cheaper ones to do it worse,

How long were they on the back, and what tyre are they?

70mph is the highest speed you can do on the roads in Britain, hope it was a a private road that everybody seems to have in the back garden.

Maybe he means 90kph

About 55mph is all nice and legal

Its very sudden, loud and quite violent. If it hadn't stopped within a few seconds I would have pulled over immediately.

I think TeflonToms idea about hitting a sweet spot could be right as it does sound like it could the drive shaft making the noise.

The tyres on the front are Pirrelli Zero Nero with about 4mm on each side.

On the back I have tyres with uneven tyre wear but think the problem is definitely at the front.

Wheel bearings?

70mph is the highest speed you can do on the roads in Britain, hope it was a a private road that everybody seems to have in the back garden.

lol 77mph with your 10% .... prob solved lol

tyre shops often dont balance rear wheels 100% as its not as crucial if there a few grams out ....

ooh just a thought, does the fabia have a vibration damper bolted to the drivers side driveshaft? most late vw's do but i cant remember seeing one on a fabia off hand??

A wheel bearing normally gets louder the faster you go and louder/quieter depending on the direction you turn. My bet is your tyre balance possibly combined with the rear tyre wear being uneven left to right, as to balancing tyres if you didn't pay for it they didn't do it.

I get this too, the car is noticeably louder at 40mph +, but quietens down around 70mph (could be drowned out by tyre and wind noise lol). It's going for another service in a week or two so I'm going to get it checked out by a garage I trust.

I had a rumble at 40 which turned out to be a knackered hub bearing. It would also happen at 80, something to do with resonant frequency I would have thought.

Perhaps a daft point to make this one, but it happened to me in my old Fab. The car had been in the local garage for something (brake discs & pads change probably) and developed a wobble at motorway speeds.

When removing the wheels to clean them, I was horrified at how little effort it took to "undo" the bolts. None of them had been torque loaded, not a chance. On refitting them, I torqued the bolts up properly and the problem was solved.

Perhaps a daft point to make this one, but it happened to me in my old Fab. The car had been in the local garage for something (brake discs & pads change probably) and developed a wobble at motorway speeds.

When removing the wheels to clean them, I was horrified at how little effort it took to "undo" the bolts. None of them had been torque loaded, not a chance. On refitting them, I torqued the bolts up properly and the problem was solved.

Surprisingly common this, I always check my wheel bolts for correct torque after the car has been in any garage for wheels off work, they had been left loose once before, scared the proverbial out of me when I found out what the problem was.

As usual the apprentice was blamed, to which I replied " well I hope you chastised his supervisor too, after all, he is meant to check his work ".

The censor is really keen on here ain't it! wouldn't let me say b0ll0cked.

Edited 28 April, 201313 yr by Coffin Dodger