2005 Volvo XC90 whirring/Humming Noise

Weird noise coming out of the passenger rear of my XC90 when I am traveling over 30mph, sounds like a whirring or humming noise. Funny thing is when I am on the highway and I take a bend to the right the noise disappears. The tires are 6 months old and I did not have the vehicle aligned when I put the new tires on. I'm thinking to start with a rotation/balance/alignment and see if that solves the problem but wanted to get some input from some of the members first.

Weird noise coming out of the passenger rear of my XC90 when I am traveling over 30mph, sounds like a whirring or humming noise. Funny thing is when I am on the highway and I take a bend to the right the noise disappears. The tires are 6 months old and I did not have the vehicle aligned when I put the new tires on. I'm thinking to start with a rotation/balance/alignment and see if that solves the problem but wanted to get some input from some of the members first.

I spoke with my brother-in-law and my father (both techs) and the consensus is that you have a bad wheel bearing on the right rear. They recommended getting it checked out very soon as they can break leading to further damage.

I hope this helps!

Thanks, that sounds very logical. I do my most of my own repairs, is this something I can do in my own garage? Are the bearings pressed in? Do I need a special tool to remove or install the new bearing?

Here is a very basic step-by-step process I was able to find via a user at volvoforums.com Please note, all credit for this goes to robertsvolvo, who I have quoted below.

Hi –
I was unable to find a good set of instruction to replace my Volvo wheel bearing assembly so I just decided to give it a try and document the steps the best I could. I have a 2005 Volvo XC90 2.5T FWD and this was the back left assembly. I understand that this process is similar on the front assembly and on other years and sub-models.
Diagnose the issue… If your bearing is going out you will hear a load roaring noise that gets louder the faster you go. An easy way to tell which wheel has the bad bearing just make a series of right and left swerves. If you swerve left and the amount of noise reduces then it is the left bearing and vice versa.

It is possible to have more than one bearing making noise so replacing a bearing may only reduce part of the noise. In my case replacement of the back left stopped all noise!
Buy the replacement part. I paid about 125$ for mine. You will find that this part will go up to 300$ plus. This is only due to brand but both the cheap and expensive part will work. I went cheap!
To Replace the Hub Assembly:
1. Loosen wheel lugs
2. Jack up car and support with jack stand
3. Remove tire
4. Remove brake tension bar on caliper
5. Remove caliper pads and caliper arm
6. Remove rotor set screw
7. Remove bolt and washer in center of rotor
8. Hammer rotor to loosen and remove
9. Unbolt 4 bolts on hub assembly
10. Remove hub assembly
11. Reverse steps to complete

Purchased a new Bearing/Hub assembly from Volvo for $239.00 and had the job completed in 1 hour 10 minutes, fairly simple job and the directions took the guess work out the job, Volvo wanted $700.00 for parts and labor and my local mechanic wanted $450.00 for parts and labor. Any way you look at it I saved at least a couple hundred dollars. Thanks again for your help.