road noise from front tires?

[rreegg]

Feel like i've been hearing some "low cyclic humming" coming from the front tires on a mk4 vw. tires have about 13k miles on them and seem to be getting worn pretty evenly - though there is not much obvious wear around. did a tire rotation today and the sound persists.
nothing seems to be majorly obviously wrong - and maybe i'm listening too much - but the sound is kind of driving me nuts. any idea on what this could be related to?

about 175k miles on the car and the suspension is old but not leaking, car tracks pretty straight with a slight/very small tendency to track to the right.

was thinking maybe looking into the frontend alignment but don't have any relevant tools yet, not sure if that's a good direction to start.

other thoughts?

 

[Nero]

Check the cv joints, they can hum in a straight line, then clack and creak when turning hard.
Other potential could be just tire rubber hum, as they age they get harder.

Does the noise seem to correlate to vehicle speed?

 

[rreegg]

Yeah the noise seems proportional to speed rather than rpms. Had the front axle up and don't think there's any obvious bearing play. Guess will keep an eye on cv joints (they never make a sound when turning) and other frontend components.

 

[rreegg]

Ended up replacing the wheel bearing and the sounds persists - figured it was about 50/50 being a bearing issue but no dice. I'm not getting any pop/clicking from the cv joints while turning/backing but would assume it's an axle issue at this point.
Is there any other way to test the axle is the issue or any other ideas on what the problem could be?

 

[Cant Write]

If you have genuine VW axles, keep them forever and just rebuild the joints. They are hollow and aftermarket replacements are solid and junk.

My guess was wheel bearings but usually those will be louder as you take curves at speed. And you just changed them. Did you replace the axle nut? It’s a 1-time use.....

Speed related....hmmmm, what about strut mounts? Lots of space equals wasted mount...3/8ths + of space. Rear axle bushings?

Do you have another set of tires you can swap and try? Rear Lower Control Bushings? If so use TT replacements (solid)

Any work you did recently that may have inadvertently caused it?

Does the steering wheel shimmy on med-hard acceleration? If so, CV joints are worn.

Good Luck!!

 

[rreegg]

Good idea to keep the original axles

 

[Cant Write]

What about your skid plate, did it get put in a little crooked and is contacting something. Mine has done that before.

Reaching for straws

 

[Cant Write]

@rreegg ever figure it out?

 

[rreegg]

@Cant Write Yep actually just this afternoon finished with the bigger stuff.

Ended up being the driver side wheel bearing making most of the noise - both inner/outer CV joints needed a rebuild/replace too.

Initially suspected the passenger side as the origin of the sound so started there. The wheel bearing and CVs were replaced but seemed to be serviceable.

 

[rreegg]

As the sound got louder it was easier to determine which side it was coming from. Swear it was the passenger side at first but it used to be more quiet.
Guess servicing both sides at once is best practice anyhow.

 

[Cant Write]

When I did my wheel bearings, I was expecting some sort of bolted on hub unit. So it surprised me when I needed a press for such a small car

Glad you got it taken care of.

My Passat needs to go under the knife. All new front suspension (4 control arms) engine and trans mounts, CV’s. New headlights from Germany.

I might just do front suspension now and do headlights when I do the TB and BSM delete in 10k.

 

[rreegg]

Oreillys has a loaner kit for the front hub/wheel bearing which really came in handy - it's about $400!