I've noticed an increasing amount of what sounds like wheel bearing noise from my Octavia over the past few months so today I finally decided to get my finger out and take a look at it.

I've jacked the car up and gone round checking the bearings but there's no noticeable noise or roughness at any corner, there's also no bearing play at any wheel either.

 

I've read a couple of posts on here mentioning poor bearing life but I was wondering if there's a specific bearing that fails or are they all as bad as each other?

Edited 23 May, 20188 yr by grmtylr

On a Honda Civic I had what I was convinced was rear wheel bearing noise. Sounded just right, slowly got worse over time, sounded just like a previous car which did have a worn wheel bearing.

 

Took it into a garage and they reported that the two rear tyres had excessive wear on the inside edges (they were due to be replaced anyway). They replaced the tyres and the noise was gone.

 

Check your tyres for wear - especially the harder to see inner edges - just to rule this out.

I did have a good look at the tyres and noticed that there was some sawtoothing on the rears.

I'll be due a couple of new front tyres fairly soon so I will stick the current rears on the front and the new ones on the rear, this may help with the noise if it's tyre related.

 

I'm currently just hoping that the fronts have enough life in them to do a trip to the South of France in a couple of months time as i could do without the extra expense at the moment!

Try swapping the wheels, or change the tyres first.

 

Bearings are rubbish IMO, I've had two done - one front, one rear, both near side, not even 31k miles yet. Have a faint noise from n/s/f again, probably on the way out once more.

 

Guess the near side take the most hammering from potholes etc.

If your putting new tyres on the rear It might be an Idea to get a 4 wheel alignment done to save your tyres from going the same way

We had sawtoothing on our Polo 9n and it really did sound like a wheel bearingy noise.

I would not keep the tyres if they are sawtoothed.

Contrary to modern 'fashion' - I always keep my best/new  tyres on the front,both for safety and handling ;).

 

 

 

4 hours ago, YS53 said:

We had sawtoothing on our Polo 9n and it really did sound like a wheel bearingy noise.

I would not keep the tyres if they are sawtoothed.

Contrary to modern 'fashion' - I always keep my best/new  tyres on the front,both for safety and handling ;).

 

I'm not sure why you wouldn't keep the tyres?

They're perfectly serviceable tyres with about 6mm tread on them, there's no way I'll be wasting £200 on a pair of tyres that don't need replaced!

 

 

3 hours ago, JohnnyType2 said:

 

 

 

 

Thanks for this Johnny.

Just spoke to a local tyre place who do the full Hunter alignment. I'll be heading over there some time this weekend to get it looked at. Not a bad price either at £59 for the full four wheel check and adjust.

 

My road noise on the motorway, especially on really smooth surfaces was driving me mad. It was just like the drone from a bearing but ended up being the rear tyre alignment. Common on skodas apparently 

6 hours ago, grmtylr said:

 

I'm not sure why you wouldn't keep the tyres?

They're perfectly serviceable tyres with about 6mm tread on them, there's no way I'll be wasting £200 on a pair of tyres that don't need replaced!

 

 

 

 

 

If they are sawtoothed badly enough to hear the wheel bearing type noise then I would replace them - purely because it would drive me nuts,it was not so much a problem on our Polo as the sawtoothed tyres were fairly well worn - the quiet drive after tyre replacement was bliss.

Oddly - our  wheel alignment was fine !

8 hours ago, JohnnyType2 said:

My road noise on the motorway, especially on really smooth surfaces was driving me mad. It was just like the drone from a bearing but ended up being the rear tyre alignment. Common on skodas apparently 

 

And Volvo V50

Swap the tyres front to rear, and repeat if the noise starts again. Continue until the tyres are worn down to your chosen limit.  Wheel alignment might not change the issue causing the inner tyre wear as the standard Skoda (VAG) setup is what causes this in the first place. Having it checked and adjusted to manufacturers specification might not necessarily make any difference if it's already within spec. You really need to go to a place who have an understanding of the problem and geometry specifically, and can apply custom settings to avoid the issue further down the line.

Wheels inMotion, Hemel Hempstead would be my choice.

I had similar issues with my car. I had the alignment all checked (fine)  and rear tyres replaced (sawtoothing), but the noise remained so I had both front wheelbearings replaced as I couldn't stand it any longer!

 

That was at 50,000 miles and it transformed the car. Now at 65,000 and I am starting to hear the noises again, this time from the OSF wheel, so I suspect another replacement in due course. The bearings are really not that durable on VAG cars.