Hello, recently purchased a 66 plate Skoda Octavia MKIII and there is a strange vibration/buzzing external noise coming from the front/front left area when driving at speeds 40-70mph. Vibration noise stops at speeds higher than 70mph. 

Anyone had anything similar / thoughts on possible cause? 

 

Cheers 

Sounds like a wheel needs balancing or perhaps a wheel bearing is worn.

Generally speaking, wheel balance you can feel through the steering wheel, - wheel bearing tends to be more of a droning noise.  It sounds as if I've got a wheel bearing starting to go, but my mechanic can't really tell which side it is at this early stage so we're going to leave it for a few more miles until it is clear which wheel it is.

Almost certainly wheel bearing. What may be tricky is that direction from which noise and vibrations are coming, if it's a bearing, can be deceiving.

 

Jack the car up, spin the wheel and grab the spring. If it’s a bearing and is bad enough you will feel vibration / roughness.

A front wheel bearing will change sound with a change of direction too as the loading moves. So you can try listening on a road test. It will disappear in one direction and be louder in the other.

 

A buzzing I would think would be a loose undertray or trim. So you'd be worth checking your undertray fastenings if your car is a diesel (petrols didn't have them) or around the front bumper and wheel arch liners for something loose. If you can't find anything you'd be best to inspect the rest of the front of the car (engine bay, suspension, brakes etc). Maybe also have a look with the car running but keep your hands clear.

 

Hope this helps and you get to the bottom of it.

Edited 14 October, 20205 yr by HeavyMetalRich
Added info

On 14/10/2020 at 02:51, LV-PEJ said:

Hello, recently purchased a 66 plate Skoda Octavia MKIII and there is a strange vibration/buzzing external noise coming from the front/front left area when driving at speeds 40-70mph. Vibration noise stops at speeds higher than 70mph. 

Anyone had anything similar / thoughts on possible cause? 

 

Cheers 

hi mate. Did you get to the bottom of this? I have similar issue. 

Thanks all! Apologies for no response. Turns out it was the wheel bearing, both sides needed replacing. Thankful it was a straight forward fix. Been running it with the new bearings for a few months and all is well. 

Appreciate all the advice 👌 

hi.

Same issue, and its in the garage right now ,as the mechanic's can't figure, given the usual checks show no wear ,or looseness on either side to indicate bearings.

Mk 3 Octy Hatch pre facelift (much better looking imho), L&K DSG  2.0tdi. at 72k

We brought the car in sept 2020 at 66K. heard the drone, hum, wahwah when test drove, so changed rubbish chinese tyres to Conti PremContact 6.

And slightly quieter . But its the same 40-60mph wah-wah drone, feels like its coming from centre forward ,and low front of car.

It is not affected by roadsurface ,weather , or temperature, nor does cornering send it louder or quieter. 

Only now having been in another identical manual Octy , have i found its not the car, and its a fault.

At 60 ish, the low drone does wooooo, arrrhher, reerr, woooo, arrrhhher etc.

I suspected some sound deadening pad had been missed, or lost , or it was a skoda thang on this model.

Overall opinion is its no better than our 2007 2.0petrol L&K with tiptronic auto.

The ride is worse ,thanks to 18'alloys, its no quieter ,outside of drone zone.  The climate control takes too long to do anything anytime. And the sat nav is rubbish.

Of course its bigger, safer, and way more effiecent, and scores Greta points for the planet. Active cruise is surprisingly addictive, but really ,the elec heated memory seats treat the back, and keep 2 adults of very different heights very happy when set. 

 

Would much appreciate any one's insight to the droning hum come wah wah .

 

I've heard from several places that MQB platform vehicles like ours are prone to wheel bearing issues. Mine does the same - droning noise at 50 and 80 mph. 

 

The tricky moment seems to be how to determine which one is causing issues. Especially when the wheel bearing is in one of the initial failure stages where the vibration isn't observed.

Edited 4 February, 20215 yr by fr1nklyn