Back in 2021 on holiday in Devon I hit a bad pot hole. No obvious damage so I thought I'd got away with it until the drive home. Once I got on the motorway it was the first time I'd got up to 70mph since the pothole, and there's a humming coming from the front passenger side corner of the car.

 

Couldn't see anything obviously wrong so I assumed I'd probably lost a wheel balancing weight. I've had wheel balancing issues before and in my experience I can normally feel it through the steering wheel, but not getting any vibration there.

 

Once back home I got the wheels rebalanced and the alignment checked. Neither fixed it. Back to the garage the mechanic suggested it was maybe a wheel bearing but couldn't be sure. Plan was to monitor it and if it was a wheel bearing it would get worse, then we would definitely know.

 

Three and a half years later the hum is still there, no better, no worse. Irritates me on every motorway journey but I've never got to the bottom of it. Please help me fix it!

 

- It's definitely related to wheel speed, not engine speed.

- I've changed tyres, changed brakes, swapped front and back wheels, no change.

- I've had several MOTs and services, nothing relevant has ever been flagged up.

- Suspension and driveshafts all look fine, no obvious damage or play.

 

Recently I'm getting a bit of a "hammering" sound when I pull out quickly turning hard right (like out of a T junction). The first time it did it I thought it was wheel spin, but it's done it a few other times when it certainly wasn't, and no traction control warning on dash. I've also noticed it making a similar noise when I reverse out my driveway (at very slow speeds obviously!) with the steering wheel hard right. I thought this might be a CV joint and could be related to the humming, but when I took it to the garage they said it was fine and couldn't find anything wrong.

 

Every time it goes to the garage they can't find anything wrong. What else can I check that might be giving me these symptoms?!

 

It's a 2016 Octavia vRS TSI 230.

Edited 6 February, 20251 yr by andy_mil

I was thinking CV joint, too. 
 

I had a problem some years ago, with a Passat. I was driving on the motorway when the car in front swerved, before driving over a loading ramp from a recovery truck. I drove over it too, but I didn’t lose two tyres like the other guy. He pulled onto the hard shoulder to join a number of other drivers and the driver of the recovery truck. 
 

Like you, I thought I’d got away with it, but I noticed I was suffering from a vibration, similar to a wheel balance problem. I had wheels balanced and then tyres replaced, to no avail. 
 

The car went in to the VW dealer, who had it for six weeks, but didn’t find what was causing it. 
 

 They never did get to the bottom of it, but I was convinced it was driveshaft/CV joint related. 

7 minutes ago, daveo138 said:

I was thinking CV joint, too. 
 

I had a problem some years ago, with a Passat. I was driving on the motorway when the car in front swerved, before driving over a loading ramp from a recovery truck. I drove over it too, but I didn’t lose two tyres like the other guy. He pulled onto the hard shoulder to join a number of other drivers and the driver of the recovery truck. 
 

Like you, I thought I’d got away with it, but I noticed I was suffering from a vibration, similar to a wheel balance problem. I had wheels balanced and then tyres replaced, to no avail. 
 

The car went in to the VW dealer, who had it for six weeks, but didn’t find what was causing it. 
 

 They never did get to the bottom of it, but I was convinced it was driveshaft/CV joint related. 

 

Thanks for the quick reply. That does sound like a very similar scenario! 

 

I find it hard to understand how I could have damaged the CV joint and nothing else, but it seems like it might we worth having a second look at that.

1 hour ago, andy_mil said:

 

I find it hard to understand how I could have damaged the CV joint and nothing else, but it seems like it might we worth having a second look at that.

Yeah, but it may be that other things like wheel alignment and the like are slightly damaged, it's just the CV joint is the one which shows up at higher speed, being the moving part.

 

Not all wheel alignments are equal. Sometimes they only measure what can be adjusted. For example some places only measure toe in on solid axel vehicles as there is no regular adjustment for camber and caster.

 

If the wheel is out of alignment in the vertical sense, the cv joint may be flexing more than its counterparts so causing vibration at high speed.

5 hours ago, andy_mil said:

Couldn't see anything obviously wrong so I assumed I'd probably lost a wheel balancing weight.

Normally a reasonable assumption, but given the rest of the dialogue, has anyone checked the balance of the driveshafts?

Here's a screenshot from the video...

 

 

9 hours ago, Paws4Thot said:

Normally a reasonable assumption, but given the rest of the dialogue, has anyone checked the balance of the driveshafts?

 

To be fair I don't think that's been done. Would I be thinking the only fix would be a new driveshaft if it was out of balance?

Wow! I see what you meant now. I was imagining more of a Duke of Hazzard type situation!

35 minutes ago, daveo138 said:

Here's a screenshot from the video...

 

 

 

Wow! I see what you meant now. I was imagining more of a Duke of Hazzard type situation!

 

42 minutes ago, daveo138 said:

Here's a screenshot from the video...

 

 

You really become just a passenger when something like that happens!

Driveshaft balance is neither going to cause a hum at high speed nor a clonking when pulling away or reversing.

Have also hum at motorway speeds in right front wheel, I think its bearing. Its not getting worse, I suspect it will take some time for it to become really noisy.

 

Hammering sound might be CV joint after all, woldn't connect those two.

Could very well be a wheel bearing. Had one that showed no sign of play or obvious wear and felt smooth just an annoying hum. Was like that for about 2 years including two MOT before finally ot noticeably worse and I eventually changed it and hum disappeared. Garage couldn't find anything wrong apart from the hum.

Alasdair

12 hours ago, Alasdair1 said:

Could very well be a wheel bearing. Had one that showed no sign of play or obvious wear and felt smooth just an annoying hum. Was like that for about 2 years including two MOT before finally ot noticeably worse and I eventually changed it and hum disappeared. Garage couldn't find anything wrong apart from the hum.

Alasdair

 

I think you're probably right. I think I might change the wheel bearing and see if that fixes it. 

If its anything like the MK2 then not too bad a job. Bearings for mine are around £50-00 for APEC and a but more for FAG/SKF. Yours should hopefully be fairly straight forward as its 2016. My 2008 Mk2 was a bit trickier to get apart due to the age and rust. Ended up cutting bottom ball joint off and replacing it as it was easier. Also had to get a new ABS sensor as there was no way the old one was coming out as it snapped plus replaced flexi brake hose as it started to leak slightly when I was removing caliper. 

Alasdair