Noise from rear of 2000 accord....

2000 honda accord 62,000 miles. No previous mechanical problems.

My wife recently brought to my attention a noise coming from her 2000 accord.

I took it for a test drive and listened to it. There is a definate "wherring" noise - sounds like the rear of the car.

I turned of the blower and radio and still heard it. it varies with the speed (higher pitch at higher speeds and lowers as I come to a stop... actually it stops when I stop).
The sound is consistantly there and does not change when I take my foot off the gas so it's not the exhaust. The brakes were changes about a month (2000) miles ago.

The noise would be best describe as a large tread tire on an asphault pavement. - No tires have not recently been replaced.

Do you think it could be a wheel bearing?

Anyhelp direction on where to look would be greatly apprecaited.

Cheers!

- Jim

Take it to get rebalanced...it could be a bunch of things, but being as you have decent tires and brakes, and a seemingly mechanically sound car. Chances are a balancing weight may have simply fallen of the tire. It only costs a few $ to get it rebalanced...see if that solves the problem.

Bearing. If the noise increases and decreases as the weight of the car shifts from side to side (left to right) than its a bearing.

Thanks for info. I'll give it a spin and cause the weight to shift and listen for the sound to change. I think the sound is too much of an even tone for it to be a wheel balance but I will take it for balance check for a couple buck and a peice of mind.

Cheers - Jim

Run your hand over the whole tread and see if you detect any feathering or cupping of the tread. You can feel it before you will start seeing it, and is a common cause of this kind of noise complaint on newer cars. Reasons for cupping and feathering can run from bad balancing (as already suggested) to a worn shock or strut allowing tire to hop and become cupped, incorrect rear toe alignment, or a defective tire becoming distorted and out of round. The bearing is a possibility, but usually last a long, long time in the rear on a FWD car, unless that wheel has been curbed hard, potholed, etc.

P.S. a hub bearing is usually not audible below 25 MPH or so, since you hear it all the way down to a stop it is probably a tire noise. I had a '98 Cavalier that I bought with 22,000 miles on it, sounded for all the world like the front brakes were grinding metal. turned out the tires on the front were slightly cupped, and the weight shift towards the front bearing down on the front tires under braking make it even more harsh. That was my first small FWD car, I didn't think it was possible for a tire to feel/sound like that until that happened.

An easy way to test our theory would be to have the tires rotated, and see if the sound follows the tires. If one is defective you will know it right away with it on the front (much more feedback to the driver)

Wheel imbalance generally doesn't become apparant below 50 mph, I kinda doubt that as the cause.