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Possible causes for road noise??


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Hello-

Recently, I decided to increase my tire pressure from 35psi to 42psi to see how it would affect gas mileage. They are new tires. I drove with no issues for 4 days or so, and I saw a modest improvement in fuel economy, as expected (2-3 mpg), without too much loss of ride comfort - all good things.

On day 5 I noticed a droning noise that starts at approx. 40 mph and stays pretty steady up to 80 mph. I can't quite place where the source is, but I think its coming from the rear. It didn't come on gradually either - one day it wasn't there then the next day it was. It reminds me of the noise that I heard when my rear wheel bearings went out early last year (about 20K miles ago). I replaced them though, so it seems unlikely that they would be failing again.

Maybe its the front bearings going bad. Is this a common thing?

It just seems strange that this started a few days after I increased my tire pressure. Would there be any reason that increased tire pressure would cause the noise? Or what other possible causes could it be?

 

Many thanks!

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Yes, all the wheel bearings will go bad. I replace all 4 in just over a years time.

 

See if the sound changes when driving on a flyover changing highways. As the load changes in the load the bearing noise will change.

 

 

Also a good indication of a bad front bearing, the sterring wheel shimmys sometimes depending on the pavement.

 

Took me a while to figure out why my wagon would shimmy like a tire was out of balance, but only and one stretch of highway, go 5 mile and the shimmy was gone.

 

Replaced the bad bearing, no more shimmy on the piece of raod.

 

Hint, for the fronts only use OEM hubs. Trust me on that one. The Moog hubs are fine in the rears.

 

Another check is for you to ride on the back seat and listen for the noise.

305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD).  CHECK your oil, these cars use it.

 

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Ok, I'm almost positive that the noise is coming from rear passenger side wheel. But like I said, I replace those bearings about a year ago. Any chance they'd be going bad already?

 

Gire - I haven't decreased air pressure back to normal yet. I know this might rule out the pressure as a cause, but at this point, I'm near positive that it's not.

 

Is there any other known cause of this kind of noise?

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Ok, I'm almost positive that the noise is coming from rear passenger side wheel. But like I said, I replace those bearings about a year ago. Any chance they'd be going bad already?

 

Gire - I haven't decreased air pressure back to normal yet. I know this might rule out the pressure as a cause, but at this point, I'm near positive that it's not.

 

Is there any other known cause of this kind of noise?

 

I have a bad ball joint that was replaced a year ago. In fact it began making noise last Nov. I figured it was the out upper shock mounts, I was having Koni's and Epic's put on in Jan so I didn't think much of it. During the winter the knock was ther going over ruff pavement. Last week while under the car I noticed I had play in the LCA, bad ball joint.

 

That's been the knock since it was 5 months old.

305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD).  CHECK your oil, these cars use it.

 

Engine Build - Click Here

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  • 1 month later...

Just an update here-

I finally replaced the rear wheel bearing where the noise was coming from, and the noise is now gone. I guess that the wheel bearing I put in last year had some defect that caused it to fail suddenly after approx. 14 months/30K miles. Thankfully for me, the part was still under warranty from A1A auto, so most of the cost of the newer, nicer timken bearing will be covered. The moral here is that if it sounds like a wheel bearing going out, its probably a wheel bearing going out - that and it may be worth it to spend a bit extra for quality parts.

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