Hello all,

 

My ASV engined Octavia has developed itself a worrisome new noise: It's a noise I've never heard before on any of the cars I've owned, so would like to fill in the gaps in my knowledge.

 

It's a droning noise that started yesterday, has now become rather loud, that increases in pitch as speed increases. It is independent of engine speed, dipping the clutch has no affect on it. Its character changes when steering, and turning right adds a noticeable pulsing to the noise. I had it suggested to me that it sounds a lot like off-road tires on tarmac.

 

Looking at things on line, I've come across the possibilities of it being the tires, CV joints, wheel bearings, or power steering. I've tried swapping over the right-hand-side tires front and rear, but it has had no affect.

 

Here's a video from the dashcam - the noise is pretty blatant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rutiew8sQBs

I would say from your explanation that it's a wheel bearing that's gone. The leaft hand one would be my guess, I would change both if it was mine though. 

Agreed, and when it's that bad you can probably isolate which one by jacking up the front wheel(s) and testing for play. I'd only change the worn bearing though, because my RH one lasted 3 years longer than the LH.

Just had the left-hand-side front wheel up: there is millimetre or so of play at the wheel edge when giving it a wobble.

LHF wheel bearing as we suspected then. Take note that there is a specialist tool for fitting new bearings, and a normal bearing press will distort them.

1 hour ago, KenONeill said:

LHF wheel bearing as we suspected then. Take note that there is a specialist tool for fitting new bearings, and a normal bearing press will distort them.

 

...and make sure they know how to correctly torque them too....

Yeah, taking this to a garage. Booked in for Friday. I don't have the tools to do this properly, and to be fair, the wheels are pretty important.

On ‎08‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 09:42, KenONeill said:

LHF wheel bearing as we suspected then. Take note that there is a specialist tool for fitting new bearings, and a normal bearing press will distort them.

 

Is this a specialist tool for VAG cars, or a specialist tool for wheel bearings generally btw?

 

Mine has started making a noise, to me it is loud but it is nothing like in the video and my mechanic says he cannot hear it over the exhaust (my exhaust isn't that loud...) and I'll have to wait for it to progress a bit before he can diagnose it. :/

1 hour ago, abo said:

 

Is this a specialist tool for VAG cars, or a specialist tool for wheel bearings generally btw?

 

Mine has started making a noise, to me it is loud but it is nothing like in the video and my mechanic says he cannot hear it over the exhaust (my exhaust isn't that loud...) and I'll have to wait for it to progress a bit before he can diagnose it. :/

For VAG bearings certainly; I'm not really up to speed on other makes these days. If you can hear the noise, jack that front wheel up off the ground, support on an axle stand, and holding the wheel top and bottom rock it. Now have someone apply the footbrake and repeat. If the play reduces, the bearing is worn.

Something like these....