Hi,

I have a Sept 2006 vRS TDI with 24,000 miles on the clock, halfway to my destination in France I noticed a rumbling noise from the front end, it was like a thrum, thrum, thrum at low speed and a faster noise the faster I went, also I could feel the noise, if you understand what I mean, when breaking. If you pushed in the clutch the noise stayed the same, so I discounted anything to do with the engine.

Any ideas what it could be.

Cheers

Dwain.

I had it at the back of my 2006 Octavia estate, guess what it was.................

The tyres running on the wear markers!

Changed the rears and the noise dissappeared.

Tyres or a wheel bearing i'd say.

i had a high pitched buzz on the car since I got it (ex demo at 6000 miles) and having not driven another ocatavia II I thought it was just a noisy car with poo tyres. It recently changed into a thrum thrum at low speed as you seem to have.

The tyres were nearly dead anyway so i changed them to goodyears to prove to myself that it wasnt the tyres and the noise was still there. Long story short I took the car the the dealers and they said it was the worst sounding bearing theyd ever heard! Seems I tuned out the rumbling as it gradually got worse and now its been replaced the car is quiet as a mouse!

Could it be something caught in the brakes / Wheels ? Stone etc

Could it be something caught in the brakes / Wheels ? Stone etc

I checked that when I had the dreaded rumble, I thought it might have been a stone caught between the brake disc and the heat shield. It's worth checking as a first port of call.

Then check the tyres, then off to the dealer for a new wheel bearing

VW group wheel bearings must be of a poor quality. I have had a few fail, the gf's Polo wheel bearings failed at 34000m and a couple of acquaintances with A3's also have had bearings go on fairly new cars. Do VW not do quality any longer?

Well it went into the dealer today and it turned out to be the tyres, they still have 4-5 mm left, but they came off the back of the car and its something to do with the rear suspension that causes the shoulders to wear in a particular way, you can feel it if you look for it.

Thanks for all the input.

Regards

Dwain

Anyone got growling front nearside suspension?

1.9tdi estate 2007

Well it went into the dealer today and it turned out to be the tyres, they still have 4-5 mm left, but they came off the back of the car and its something to do with the rear suspension that causes the shoulders to wear in a particular way, you can feel it if you look for it.

Would that be the Camber setting or should I say incorrect Camber settings with AFAIK comes from factory...there was a bulletin on it and heard of a couple of people with that issue. Chewing a set of rear tyres in 10-15k miles.

Thats exactly what happened to my rear tyres, killed in about 12,000 miles IIRC. It didn't help that the car was loaded up all the time. The rumbling was there as well.

Well it went into the dealer today and it turned out to be the tyres, they still have 4-5 mm left, but they came off the back of the car and its something to do with the rear suspension that causes the shoulders to wear in a particular way, you can feel it if you look for it.

Thanks for all the input.

Regards

Dwain

Not a problem exclusive to Skoda.

I have an '02 Vauxhall Astra in our company fleet and earlier this year at 96,000 miles had the same rumbling from the rear. Naturally assumed, with the mileage, that it was wheel bearings, and had them changed (quite expensive). Still had the rumbling and it turned out to be the wear pattern on the 2/3rd worn rear tyres!! Changed the tyres and all was quiet again.

As for camber settings and rear tyre wear on the Octavia, yes there was a change to the Octavia Rear Camber Settings, see here;- Octavia-vRS.com - Octavia A5 Common or Known Problems and Issues but again not a Skoda exclusive problem.

Years ago a neighbour had a new Escort XR3i (when they first came out) and went through a set of rear tyres in only 8,000 miles!!! Suspension settings were later changed!