Speed-related noise in 2001 Buick

[shorod]

My brother's father in-law had me go for a ride in his 2001 LeSabre to see if I could help him determine what's causing the noise in his car. When he gets above 25 mph the noise becomes audible, it's kind of a muffled rumble noise. At first I thought it might be the torque converter so I had him drive in 3 rather than D and the noise was still there. Also, we tried shifting to neutral while the noise was present and it didn't change. I hooked the scan tool up and the datastream confirmed that it is not related to the gear of the transmission or the torque converter. The noise is vehicle speed related, not engine speed. Also, applying the brakes has no effect (except the frequency of the noise decreases).

There is a vibration in the car similar to an out of balance wheel. I noticed it sitting in the passenger seat and thought it was in the rear, but he notices it in the steering wheel.

We put the car up on jack stands, set the parking brake, and ran it up to see if the noise was there with the wheels off the ground. It is and the front wheels bounced a bit as if the wheels are out of balance or like a halfshaft might be bent. Standing beside the car, I could hear what sounds like possible a bad wheel bearing and I hear it around the same time that he hears it in the car. The CV boots are in great shape, no leaks anywhere. All front suspension components are tight in all directions.

Normally I'd conclude that the noise is a bad wheel bearing, but this car is driven gently and only has 39k miles on it! Seems premature for bad wheel bearings.

Is there a common issue with these cars that might cause this? I did a search on the forum and didn't find where wheel bearings are all that common to fail, or other similar noises. I did find three posts that seem to match some of these symptoms and did turn out to be bearings, so I'm sticking with that thought, but want to check with the experts.

-Rod

[jonegar]

As strange as it may sound I am guessing the wheel bearings. My wife has a 2001 which had 31,000 miles when we purchased it and I likened the noise to being followed by a crotch-rocket motorcyle. Started at around 25 mph and "wound up" in frequency as speed increased. I took to dealer and it turned out to be the wheel bearings. Have not had a problem since then.

[shorod]

Great info, thank you!

-Rod

[shorod]

The owner took the car to the dealer after realizing his extended warranty was still good. The technician took the car for a drive and quickly said the left front wheel bearing was bad. The dealer replaced the bearing, he paid his warranty deductible, and all seems well.

-Rod