Wheel bearing noise....
12-15-2011, 11:21 AM
#1
Race Director
Thread Starter
Wheel bearing noise....
Sorry, but I do not have a video/audio clip just the memory of what I've been hearing from it sounds like the right rear of the car these last hundreds of miles.
Sounds like a wheel bearing, that is I can hear the normal tire noise, but there's an underlying not very loud hum/howl (hard to describe noise that's for sure) from the rear of the car at speed, speed being at 75mph or higher.
(The only other time I've had a wheel bearing problem, in my Boxster, the bad wheel bearing only became evident after I replaced 4 very worn and very very noisy Pirelli tires and even then while both the shop manager and I agreed there was a wheel bearing noise which rear wheel it was coming from was not clear. We both quessed the same corner (I can't remember if it was left or right now) and guessed right. Oh, the noise appeared at around 80K to 90K miles and the Turbo's odometer is now at around 82.5K miles...)
Anyhow, the noise seems to follow the road's surface/roughness in that as the car becomes a bit unloaded as the car comes down after moving up a bit from the roughness of the road surface (and I-44 south of OKC is a bit rough) and as the car gets 'light' the noise goes away momentarily.
When the road surface is smoother it remains constant. I can gently -- very gently because sometimes I did this at 75mph -- swerve the car from side to side and the noise seems to go and then return in some kind of relationship with the swerving, but maybe I was just tired, but I was unable to identify the relationship of the noise's variability to the swerving clearly enough to post anything.
The noise seems to go away when I lower the car's speed to like last night 70mph (even though on I-44 to Wichita Falls, TX has a speed limit of 75mph).
Running at 70mph instead of 75mph of course takes longer to cover distances, but the gas mileage jumped quite a bit to over 26mpg.
And the noise is not present at the slower speed. At higher speeds the noise bothers me in that I'm concerned the wheel bearing is the source and I do not want a break down on the road.
I could turn east and drive to Dallas/Ft. Worth and have a Porsche dealer tech give a listen but if the bearing's bad not sure how long it would take to get it replaced and me back on the road.
Besides, I'm not 100% convinced the noise is from a bearing. It might be from the tires.
While the rear tires aren't that old, just few months in fact, and do not have many miles (probably under 8K miles) -- oh Bridgestones all around) -- the front tires have been in service now over 30K miles. While they have plenty of tread left and are wearing evenly (as are the rears -- good alignment) I wonder if the front tires are just getting hard and noisy from the heat cycling and this accounts for the noise?
I think I'll map out a route to a dealer in Dallas area and the one in OKC and see how many miles/hours I'm away from each.
On my route there's nothing west of here in the way of a Porsche dealership save Albuquerque IIRC and from there it is a long long way from Albuquerque to the next nearest dealership in Las Vegas.
Not looking for help/advice -- since I'll be off line in a few minutes as I get back on the road -- I guess just trying to put it down in black and white and possibly help me decide what to do... I'm sort of leaning towards either going to Dallas/Ft Worth or possibly even heading back to Oklahoma City and the dealer there. Stopped in last night to look around but of course the service department was long closed down for the day. I thought about spending the night nearby the OKC dealer and having the car looked at this AM, but decided to press on to avoid the snow that now appears to not be going to show.
Ok enough whining and wringing my hands. Time to load up the car and hit the road.
Sincerely,
Macster.
Sounds like a wheel bearing, that is I can hear the normal tire noise, but there's an underlying not very loud hum/howl (hard to describe noise that's for sure) from the rear of the car at speed, speed being at 75mph or higher.
(The only other time I've had a wheel bearing problem, in my Boxster, the bad wheel bearing only became evident after I replaced 4 very worn and very very noisy Pirelli tires and even then while both the shop manager and I agreed there was a wheel bearing noise which rear wheel it was coming from was not clear. We both quessed the same corner (I can't remember if it was left or right now) and guessed right. Oh, the noise appeared at around 80K to 90K miles and the Turbo's odometer is now at around 82.5K miles...)
Anyhow, the noise seems to follow the road's surface/roughness in that as the car becomes a bit unloaded as the car comes down after moving up a bit from the roughness of the road surface (and I-44 south of OKC is a bit rough) and as the car gets 'light' the noise goes away momentarily.
When the road surface is smoother it remains constant. I can gently -- very gently because sometimes I did this at 75mph -- swerve the car from side to side and the noise seems to go and then return in some kind of relationship with the swerving, but maybe I was just tired, but I was unable to identify the relationship of the noise's variability to the swerving clearly enough to post anything.
The noise seems to go away when I lower the car's speed to like last night 70mph (even though on I-44 to Wichita Falls, TX has a speed limit of 75mph).
Running at 70mph instead of 75mph of course takes longer to cover distances, but the gas mileage jumped quite a bit to over 26mpg.
And the noise is not present at the slower speed. At higher speeds the noise bothers me in that I'm concerned the wheel bearing is the source and I do not want a break down on the road.
I could turn east and drive to Dallas/Ft. Worth and have a Porsche dealer tech give a listen but if the bearing's bad not sure how long it would take to get it replaced and me back on the road.
Besides, I'm not 100% convinced the noise is from a bearing. It might be from the tires.
While the rear tires aren't that old, just few months in fact, and do not have many miles (probably under 8K miles) -- oh Bridgestones all around) -- the front tires have been in service now over 30K miles. While they have plenty of tread left and are wearing evenly (as are the rears -- good alignment) I wonder if the front tires are just getting hard and noisy from the heat cycling and this accounts for the noise?
I think I'll map out a route to a dealer in Dallas area and the one in OKC and see how many miles/hours I'm away from each.
On my route there's nothing west of here in the way of a Porsche dealership save Albuquerque IIRC and from there it is a long long way from Albuquerque to the next nearest dealership in Las Vegas.
Not looking for help/advice -- since I'll be off line in a few minutes as I get back on the road -- I guess just trying to put it down in black and white and possibly help me decide what to do... I'm sort of leaning towards either going to Dallas/Ft Worth or possibly even heading back to Oklahoma City and the dealer there. Stopped in last night to look around but of course the service department was long closed down for the day. I thought about spending the night nearby the OKC dealer and having the car looked at this AM, but decided to press on to avoid the snow that now appears to not be going to show.
Ok enough whining and wringing my hands. Time to load up the car and hit the road.
Sincerely,
Macster.
Last edited by Macster; 12-15-2011 at 11:22 AM. Reason: Typos.
12-15-2011, 12:29 PM
#2
Race Director
Thread Starter
Ok, I know what I'm going to do.
It is 138 miles to OKC (142 to Dallas and 509 to Albuquerque) and I just got off the phone with Kyle at the Porsche dealer in OKC who said 'bring the car up and someone will take a look at it'.
The sound you hear is me slamming the door to my motel room and rushing to the car to get there ASAP.
Sincerely,
Macster.
It is 138 miles to OKC (142 to Dallas and 509 to Albuquerque) and I just got off the phone with Kyle at the Porsche dealer in OKC who said 'bring the car up and someone will take a look at it'.
The sound you hear is me slamming the door to my motel room and rushing to the car to get there ASAP.
Sincerely,
Macster.
12-15-2011, 09:28 PM
#4
Race Director
Thread Starter
Got the opinion today. Not a wheel bearing or an axle or a transmission or anything mechanical. The noise is coming from the tires, the front tires. Shop foreman took the car out today, right after I arrived, and he was able to reproduce the noise.
The tires are getting hard from heat cycling. Bridgestone tires are not known to me so I'm learning how they age. They seem to be nearer Pirelli tires in how noisy they get as they age, get harder.
The service manager also told me the inner edges of the front tires are feathering a bit and this is the noise I hear. I felt the tire tread faces, all 4, and I could feel the front inner edge feathering, on just the front tires thank goodness. The rears feel like new even with at least 8K miles and probably closer to 10K.
Oh, the manager said something about the alignment probably contributing to this condition. I had the car aligned when the tires were put on I forget how many miles ago and when I had the rear tires changed at around 24K miles the tire wear was very even so I had confidence in the alignment. But it seems like the miles is taking its toll and of course I'll have the car aligned the next time tires are replaced. I asked if the service manager thought the car should be aligned and he said "no". The alignment was not that bad and it could wait until the next time I had the tires replaced.
Anyhow, I hammered the car -- well hammered is a relatively term -- all the way from Wichita Falls to OKC and then once I got the all clear all the way to Amarillo. Sometimes I'd hear the noise other times not. Seems the road surface matters some and apparently I-44 from at least OKC to Wichita Falls has what it takes to make the tires sing/howl.
But sections of I-40 the tires were quiet which helped calm my fears.
Oh, there was no charge for the dealer to look over the car, take it out for a test drive to identify the noise source.
Didn't take the dealer long either. I thought I'd have to wait hours but the service manager got the car right in as soon as I arrived and got the shop foreman to take the car out that I didn't have time to figure out how to switch the waiting room TV to the the Weather Channel to catch up on the weather further west before the manager handed me the key and told me the news.
Kind of funny, but every small object in the road looks like a nail. Every wiggle of the car is a flat tire. Every shadow on the side of the road is a deer and every noise is something wrong with the car. Talked myself into believing there was a problem with the car when there was not a problem.
Now all I am back to worrying about is what the weather's going to do the rest of drive.
Sincerely,
Macster.
The tires are getting hard from heat cycling. Bridgestone tires are not known to me so I'm learning how they age. They seem to be nearer Pirelli tires in how noisy they get as they age, get harder.
The service manager also told me the inner edges of the front tires are feathering a bit and this is the noise I hear. I felt the tire tread faces, all 4, and I could feel the front inner edge feathering, on just the front tires thank goodness. The rears feel like new even with at least 8K miles and probably closer to 10K.
Oh, the manager said something about the alignment probably contributing to this condition. I had the car aligned when the tires were put on I forget how many miles ago and when I had the rear tires changed at around 24K miles the tire wear was very even so I had confidence in the alignment. But it seems like the miles is taking its toll and of course I'll have the car aligned the next time tires are replaced. I asked if the service manager thought the car should be aligned and he said "no". The alignment was not that bad and it could wait until the next time I had the tires replaced.
Anyhow, I hammered the car -- well hammered is a relatively term -- all the way from Wichita Falls to OKC and then once I got the all clear all the way to Amarillo. Sometimes I'd hear the noise other times not. Seems the road surface matters some and apparently I-44 from at least OKC to Wichita Falls has what it takes to make the tires sing/howl.
But sections of I-40 the tires were quiet which helped calm my fears.
Oh, there was no charge for the dealer to look over the car, take it out for a test drive to identify the noise source.
Didn't take the dealer long either. I thought I'd have to wait hours but the service manager got the car right in as soon as I arrived and got the shop foreman to take the car out that I didn't have time to figure out how to switch the waiting room TV to the the Weather Channel to catch up on the weather further west before the manager handed me the key and told me the news.
Kind of funny, but every small object in the road looks like a nail. Every wiggle of the car is a flat tire. Every shadow on the side of the road is a deer and every noise is something wrong with the car. Talked myself into believing there was a problem with the car when there was not a problem.
Now all I am back to worrying about is what the weather's going to do the rest of drive.
Sincerely,
Macster.
