Hi guys wondering if you could shed any light asto what this noise is or if its normal...

there is a droning noise not unlike an aftermarket exhaust coming from the rear of my car, im getting no vibration from the steeringwheel or the brake pedal. when i dip the clutch it doesnt get any quieter so its not the exhaust... it gets louder the faster i drive too. it becomes intrusive at about 90 but is audiable from anything over 50...

any suggestions or is the drone just one of them noises the car makes... must say ive never noticed it before.

could it be a wheel bearing on its way out? id of thought not as id expect vibration in the steering wheel?

any help appreciated.

Sounds like a wheel bearing to me. Jack the car up and spin the wheels.

Rear wheel bearing.

I had one go on our old one at around 80k miles. Couldnt hear anything with it jacked up though.

what am i jacking it up for again? to see if it makes any noise? can a half decent mechanic replace em and do they cost much?

In the first place, I'd expect a bearing to be more of a squeak than a drone, but the test in simple enough.

Chock the opposite front wheel, then jack the car up and release the handbrake. Hold the wheel top and bottom, and try to rock it, but don't try and force it.

Apply the hb, and repeat the rock test. If there's less play, then you've got a bad wheel bearing.

cheers bud, its deffo a drone, sounds just like someone has put a halfords backbox on it. lol

Yeah if it's the bearing it will make a noise when you spin the wheel round you may also have lots of play in the wheel , bearing kits are pretty cheap got one from GSF for

stupid question, does the bearing kit include all you need to change it (EG a bearing!?) or is it just a kit of bits and you need to buy a kit and a bearing?

Bearing kit is apt to be inner and outer bearings, plus any washers, staked nuts, split pins and the like required, basically everything barring the grease.

Bearing kit is apt to be inner and outer bearings, plus any washers, staked nuts, split pins and the like required, basically everything barring the grease.

sounds like a bargain for

I don't know if you'll need a press or a puller for an Octy.

ok, got it up in the air last night, no play in the wheels with or without the handbrake on, noise has me almost convinced its coming from the wheels though, is it possible for them to be on their way out and not have any play???

Most unlikely IME.

We're not at unusual stuff I think, like an out of round tyre wereing closer to one wear bar than the others or a stone under the brake backplate (if drone relates to road speed), or blown out baffles (engine speed, and not far off hte Halfrauds' back box description).

It'll be the wheel bearing

What car do you have, is it a 4x4?

I had a droning noise on my jag and it turned out to be the driveshaft bearing.

Of course, if you don't have a 4x4 then ignore everything i've just said :-)

its a mk1 vrs, for 16 quid a pop i think ill replace the bearings on both sides on the rear. cars only done 37000 on a 52 plate. :(

This sounds like tyre noise. I've got Bridgestones on my Octy and they're now down to about 3mm and there's quite a noise from the rear, it sounds like a wheel bearing, but I had the same tyres on a Mazda6 and the same thing happened. All went quiet when I changed the tyres.

Had almost identical symptoms, turned out to be a wheel bearing. Got garage to do it, unfortunately they knackered the stub axle on removal :eek: (bloody apprentice mechanic). Garage tried to charge me for new stub axle

hold your horses there lad!!

before doing anything mechanical check teh wear on your rear tyres, is the tread worn level or is there a leading edge? if they are wearing at an angle front to back with the highest point being at the back on top of the tyre(i'll do a pic in a minute) then what can happen is that little tiny lip can fold slightly and "pinb" out when its left contact with the road, repeat this hundreds of times a minute and you get a drone. quickest way to rule it out is swap over left and right wheels and see if that has any effect

so, on the rear left wheel looking from the outer edge if the tread is like this then try swapping the wheels.

Is that graining, or scrubbing? (graining goes left to right: scrubbing produces the shape shown on the outer edge blocks, with the thick part being top back to normal direction of rotation, and IME really only affects driven wheels).

the tires have maybe 7mm left on and are michelin pilot sport exalto's.

but what are they worn like? my brother had the same problem on his focus and it was down to the tyres.

dunno what they are worn like, ill have a look tonight. from memory they look fine but ill have a second check.

It needs more than a look. Stroke your fingers both ways round the top of the tread, and if it feels different one way to the other, that's showing up scrubbing.