duffman13

I was having some significant road noise recently but I had pretty worn tires and wrote it off as low tread noise until very recently.

I just had my tires replaced and an alignment done, and I'm still having some pretty significant noise. It's quiet until about 40mph, and then it starts to sound like a Jeep on knobby off-road tires, but with some pulsing as well. I also have some slight vibration through the wheel. The tire shop didn't say anything, but I don't think they drove the car much beyond determining if it drove straight after the alignment.

My first thought is that it's one or both wheel bearings in the front are bad, but I was hoping someone might be able to help me diagnose the issue before I started buying parts etc. I do track the car so i know the heat can do some bad stuff to them, and I also hit a fairly significant pothole last spring that I know can damage them as well.

I'll post a video with the noise later today. Anybody local that can help me?

steamedturtle

You can diagnose wheel bearings by jacking up th car and shaking the top and bottom of the wheel. If you get any movement then your wheel bearings are failing.

duffman13

I'll do that, I'm getting the car on a lift this weekend to do the oil/diff/tranny fluids, so I'll check it out then.

TubeDriver

While driving along a straight rd, try swerving a little back and forth. The noise should get worse/change under load (i.e. a left front wheel bearing sounds worse when making a right hand turn).

duffman13

I forgot to add, the alignment shop said my tie rod ends could stand to be replaced, I didn't know if that could cause any tire roar from the fronts scrubbing...

mugen_rsx09

Thanks for the info

TopGear

That'll work if they're in bad enough shape, but if they're just starting to lose it, you may not be able to notice the wheel moving. (At least I couldn't discern any movement when one of my rear bearings went bad a few years back)

Just saying, if you're trying to diagnose the noise, don't assume your bearings are 100% just because you can't shake your wheels around.

I did get very noticeable change in noise when turning left vs turning right though, like Pete suggested.

yeaitsahonda

Driving and turning is usually the best method. If you have it on a lift you can put a long screw driver on the knuckle and listen through the handle as somebody else spins the wheel.

That being said; if you do the work yourself you might as well do both. They're not exactly a rare failure on these cars and if you track it they go bad even more. On my track Miata they are a maintenance item and get replaced about twice a year. Sticky tires and track curbing aren't easy on them.

duffman13

So I got nothing out of driving and turning, the noise stays the same on either side and is just speed dependent. It starts around 40, hits some kind of harmonic at 50-60 that makes it pretty loud, and dissipates around 80 or is just overcome by other noise. I'll still check for bearing play tomorrow when I go do my fluids though.

I ordered inner and outer tie rod ends at the suggestion of the shop that did my alignment and will have them installed and re-aligned next weekend. The car is coming up on 100k anyway and has seen a decent amount of track and auto-X use so I figure it could use them anyway.

If that doesn't take care of it, I'm thinking doing the wheel bearings preventatively will be my next move. I just don't want to get to the point where I'm just throwing front suspension parts at this until the sound goes away.

goldenfri

If I had to guess I would still say its probably wheel bearings. Having a shop do them is going to be very expensive FYI. Why did the alignment place say you needed to tie rods? Ripped boot or were they just dead? I don't think they would make any noise if they were loose, just make for sloppy steering. If you haven't ever done wheel bearings with 100k and track time, I'm going to say you will need to do them soon if they aren't already making the noise.

Also shops charge a lot for wheel bearings and don't always do them right. All you need is a press to do them on your own.