Rear wheel noise........

[les1]

I have a noise coming from what appears to be the offside rear wheel. Not loud yet but it increaes & decreases with speed. When you are slowing to a point about to stop it feels as if a wheel is oscolating rather that turning perfectly round. Any ideas on this one would be gratefully received. Wheel feels OK but something isn't 100%. I had a rear tyre repaired with a plug awhile ago just wondered if that could have anything to do with it.

Thanks in anticipation................

[302NOVA]

What kind of a car do you have year model miles? drum or disc brakes? What does the noise sound like? a tire noise -wine -huming sound, a grinding noise? does it get worse on corners? how does it change with speed? without these answers it could be brake shoes or pads draging jack it up spin the wheel. It could be a wheel bearing, bent rim, broken cord in the tire, wheel cover. When we figure out what it is then we can proceed to the repair.

[les1]

Hi & thanks 302NOVA. I realise that my description was a bit vague now. The car is a 2000 Mitusbishi Galant ES. It most definitly is not a brake pad grinding noise. It doesn't change at speed only gets faster or slower sound is the same. My thoughts were probably wheel bearing but it is not a metallic sound. More like a drumming as if you were running over expansion joints on a cement road. It's not a worn tyre the tread is fine except for the point that I made about the tyre repair.

[RahX]

If the tire isn't worn reasonably flat, it will cause noise. Any cupping can cause road noise/vibration. You can get much the same noise from a wheel bearing too but I haven't seen many Galants with bad wheel bearings.

[les1]

Thanks Rahx,

I think that tomorrow morning I will Jack the car up & spin the wheels & check the rear tyres. They are reasonably good on tread although they have been on for 25,000 miles. Thanks for your input. I know that all cars have their own weaknessess that's why I posted the thread to see if anyone picked it up immediately like with the balance shaft recently with the replacement timing belt........

[RahX]

Do you know what cupping wear on a tire is?

[loboveloz]

have you check to see if your wheel has a bent ?

[les1]

Hi Rahx,
No I have not heard the term"cupping wear" related to tyres. What exactly is it?

[les1]

Hi loboveloz,Thanks for your imput , I do have a bent wheel from sometime ago which was knocked out & has always seemed to be OK. Jacking it up & spinning the wheels should identify that noise if it is the culprit I would imagine.

[RahX]

The bearing has to be loaded to make noise most of the time. If it is loose, you can check it with the wheel off of the ground. Cupping wear is high/low/high/low tread wear across the tire. It can be inside or outside or across the tire in a variety of different patterns. If the tread is flat then that probably isnt your problem. You can run your hand across the surface and feel to see if there is unevenness in the tread.

[les1]

Hi RahX,

Thanks again for the info. Jacked up the car yesterday. No cupping of tyres the rear ones are worn even & flat. Front ones, nearside is off track a little, sometime ago dropped into a pot hole. Mitsubishi hammered out the wheel, refitted the tyre & it has been as good as gold ever since. Except the wear showing now.
Spun all wheels can hear a slight bind on the brake shoes on one revolution of rear wheels. Front wheels do not spin as freely otherwise nothing seems unusual. Is that normal?

Wheels seem firm enough no play on an top to bottom or side to side pressure. Would you feel wheel bearing by trying to wiggle the wheels side to side or top to bottom when jacked up or only by removing the wheel?

[RahX]

If it is really bad, there will be play. The front wheels won't turn easily because they are connected to the transaxle and you're turning the differential over when you spin one. The rears should spin freely with the exception of a slight bit of brake drag which is normal. Inside edge wear can be alignment but more often than not it is from not rotating the tires enough. Now, probably the easiest way to diagnose which wheel bearing is noisy is to have someone drive and weave fairly tightly to load one wheel then the other for a few seconds. Whichever wheel makes roaring/rumbling noise is bad.

[les1]

Thanks again Rahx, I will try the weaving & listening...

[302NOVA]

Rotate the tire and wheel to a differant location to see if it still makes noise in the same location. I had a wheel bearing go bad in the back and it sounded just like a truck tire back there when I put the new bearing in no more noise! Sometimes Bearings only make noise under the right load. Let me know what happens when you put a differant tire and wheel back there where the noise is coming from!.....302Nova

[les1]

Thanks 302NOVA I will try that.....