I did have problems with my Octavia estate and sawtoothing on the rear off-side so took it to a reputable specialist with a Hunter equivalent rig about a year ago. I had new suspension springs and shocks fitted by the same specialist the same day as the geometry alignment.

Soon after I had new tyres fitted to get rid of the worn saw toothed tyres.

Now almost a year on it sounds like it is coming back (and has been for at least two months).

Today I've had all the wheels off for cleaning and a proper inspection. All looks fine. Pretty even tyre wear across each tyre and each axle.

No sign of any sawtoothing.

What could be causing a similar noise?

I checked the under trays and suspension and all I could see was the rear rubber bushes on the front suspension arms had cracks in them. Not perished, just a couple if cracks.

Could this be causing the noise? Seems unlikely to me. What do you guys think?

If you feel around the tyres, are they 'lumpy', shaped a bit like a 50 pence piece? Seems to be a problem with modern cars for some reason, and it causes a droning noise. Sounds similar to a wheel bearing gone.

Thanks. I've seen saw toothing before (on my car it was the inner side wall if the OSR that went 'wavy', not distorted like a 50p).

This time around there is nothing.

Had a good look and feel. Nothing.

I'll have a look at wheel bearings just in case, but I suspect wrong type of noise. Although at 126k miles, they could be on the way out...

I,d say wheel bearings possibly too.They are a bit prone for them.

Mine seems to be doing this as well,i had my alignment done about a year ago (12,000 miles ago)as i only seem to notice it on certain road surfaces & one of my rear tyres is worn to around 3mm im going to wait & put new tyres on & see if that helps,no visable wear on my tyres to.

I don't need new tyres yet, but if I did, I'd want to sort the problem first before buying new.

If it is an alignment problem it will come back (8-12k miles seems to be about right to start noticing it) and that's another tyre (or pair) ruined early.

How do you check for problems with the wheel bearings?

Might be a bearing.

It might just be the pattern on the tyres. My mid budget tyres are getting loud on the back as they wear.

It might just be the pattern on the tyres. My mid budget tyres are getting loud on the back as they wear.

Don't suppose you are using Dunlop Fast Response tyres are you?

It's what I've had on the car since I've had it (not the same set, obviously).

No Maxxis MAZ1. Good price and loads of grip, but loud.

Jack the car up and check for play and spin the wheel and listen for noise or it not spinning freely.

When my rear wheel bearing went there was no play or noise when checking by hand, but the wheel was noticably stiffer to rotate and stopped spinning quite quickly. The bearing was more or less seized solid. It made a droning that came on at 30 and went at about 60mph.

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Thanks 'andyvee', I'll take a look.

I'm fairly sure that its coming from the rears, but they have never spun particularly freely since I've had the car!

What's weird is that this sounds and behaves exactly like last time (when I did have a deformed tyre) in that it comes at about 45 mph and increases in volume (and stays) above that.

Except this time, no tyre deformities that I can see of feel.

I know, I went and had my alignment checked first and it was still spot on so I took the mechanic for a spin round the block with him in the back and they were pretty sure it was the bearing.

It came on fairly quickly as it had passed the MoT a week before.

It got worse pretty quickly as well, from a drone to being bloody loud in about 300 miles.

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If it is seized the wheel stops spinning very quickly, it is fairly obvious if you can compare a good one to a failed one by getting the whole car in the air.

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Myself and a few passengers felt us was the NSF that was making the noise. So off with both front wheels and definitely no evidence if deformed tyres.

The NSF wheel spins slightly stiffer than the OSF but it sounds and feels like the brake pads are touching the disc on that side (I have had a slight squealing at times from that side suggesting the calipers and pads aren't greesed quite enough to slide properly).

No strange noises, no play in the hub, no roughness in rotation, nothing unusual.

Did the same both sides.

Will check the rears again tomorrow, but does anyone have anything else to suggest I try?

If the pads are touching the disks there will be a lot of heat generated and the disks will get very hot after even a short drive. Being careful not burn yourself you could see if there's a heat difference between nsf and osf after a spin?

Thanks for the warning, but no problems.

I checked the wheels / bearings as soon as I got home from work (12 mile drive) and no heat issues, just a slight difference in 'spinability' between the two front wheels with the NSF being the slightly less free spinning of the two.

It just sounded like pads rubbing a tiny bit rather than any grinding/clonking/knocking from a bearing. No roughness to the spin and no play or wobble on the wheel.

What about a dented/warped alloy from all the potholes as a thought? Although I only have 15" alloys!

Buckled wheel would normally show as shaking through the steering. More like an unbalanced wheel.

That's what I thought, but thought I'd ask just in case.

Think I'm going to have to get it to a garage and see what they think...

Have you tried switching to your spare on that wheel? Might have a different tread pattern/depth and also shouldn't have been hit by any pot holes.

Edited 1 May, 201313 yr by Aspman

Good suggestion.

Was going to check rears again tonight and will do that at the same time.

Rears spin without any noise or resistance and flow nicely for several revolutions (obviously with the hand brake off - Doh!)

Fronts spin equally but not as well as the rears (not surprising as there is a drive shaft & differential to spin as well). Again, no noises or roughness.

No sign of any inner edge tyre wear and wear across the tyres seems even and consistent.

I'm running out of ideas!

One thing to add, occasionally when turning hard (either direction) I get a noise that sounds like tyres rubbing on something. As I say, it's not consistent and can't alway be replicated...

Just back from a VW specialist this morning and they say it sounds like it might be a wheel bearing going on the front.

No noises or wobbles though!

But they couldn't say which one so were reluctant to do anything in case they chose the wrong one.

They did find the OSR has signs of saw toothing which is bl00dy annoying as I had a full geometry alignment done 12 months ago on a Hunter rig after the suspension was lowered and this was the corner that was causing the problems.

Should the geometry wander? Over 12 months?

I expect hitting potholes may knock it out, but it seems too much of a coincidence that it is the same corner that is out...

I'll change that wheel for the spare (if it stops raining) and eliminate that from the possible sources of the noise.

More to come I expect...

Dealer price: £210.41 per side.

VW (backstreet) specialist: about £120 per side.

Choices...

Have finally got around to swapping the last wheel with the spare (OSR) and its that one!

Nice and quiet on a test drive this evening.

At least no need for a wheel bearing but I'll have to live with the noise until the tyres wear down as all four are equal and about 3-4mm of tread left across all the width.

Think I'll be reading the 'which tyre' threads and moving away from Dunlops which (I read somewhere) are more prone to sawtoothing than other brands.

The are Dunlop Sport Fast Response 205/60/15 91V (for the record) at present.