Strange tire sound from the front...?

[greddy25]

Hello everyone. I'm looking at getting a few ideas to keep troubleshooting a strange sound coming from what I believe to be the front wheels. My car is a 2002 2WD TR4. Here's a quick run down of what's been going on and what I've done so far:

At around 30mph a humming/tire noise starts picking up and gets louder up until 60 where it slowly gets less noticeable as I increase speed. I can put the car in neutral while coasting and the sounds doesn't go away. It's also not dependent on load since the sound doesn't differ by how much I accelerate or tow. It also doesn't vary if I'm turning in either direction. It's definitely speed dependent.

So far I've greased the u-joints and switched out the rear diff fluid which looked pretty good with very few metal flakes on the plug magnet.

I also checked the pinion bearing by putting the car in neutral and there was no play whatsoever. Lastly, I put the car on jack stands and accelerated to around about 55-65mph and there was no noise either.

After all of this, I'm pretty convinced that it's something in the front especially since I noticed yesterday that the front tires have a bit of uneven wear. Nothing insane or noticeable if your not looking for it but definitely there.

I haven't taken the car for an alignment in a while and at higher speeds it shakes a bit, but could being misaligned lead to this kind of noise?

 

[Whakeen]

It wouldn't seem unreasonable for alignment issues to put pressure on different parts of the tire tread which could create a different sound than other tires.

However, did you check if all tire pressures are equal?

 

[Dieselchessy]

Rotors warped, wheel bearings, tires, alignment, bushings shot, tie rods, ball joints......

 

[spartacus]

Swap the front tires with the rears and see if you notice any change.

 

[Bad Luck]

Hello everyone. I'm looking at getting a few ideas to keep troubleshooting a strange sound coming from what I believe to be the front wheels. My car is a 2002 2WD TR4. Here's a quick run down of what's been going on and what I've done so far:

At around 30mph a humming/tire noise starts picking up and gets louder up until 60 where it slowly gets less noticeable as I increase speed. I can put the car in neutral while coasting and the sounds doesn't go away. It's also not dependent on load since the sound doesn't differ by how much I accelerate or tow. It also doesn't vary if I'm turning in either direction. It's definitely speed dependent.

So far I've greased the u-joints and switched out the rear diff fluid which looked pretty good with very few metal flakes on the plug magnet.

I also checked the pinion bearing by putting the car in neutral and there was no play whatsoever. Lastly, I put the car on jack stands and accelerated to around about 55-65mph and there was no noise either.

After all of this, I'm pretty convinced that it's something in the front especially since I noticed yesterday that the front tires have a bit of uneven wear. Nothing insane or noticeable if your not looking for it but definitely there.

I haven't taken the car for an alignment in a while and at higher speeds it shakes a bit, but could being misaligned lead to this kind of noise?

Since you have a 2wd there is no way for you to check your front bearings using the drivetrain while on jack stands. Is there any change in pitch or volume if you keep a steady speed but shift the vehicle weight side to side by turning? If you notice a change in pitch or volume then you have a bad front wheel bearing. TYPICALLY the bad wheel bearing will be the one that gets lowder with more noise. Ex: Turning right causes the left wheel bearing to get more load.

I'd also try rotating your front tires to the rear to see if the noise follows them. A bad alignment could also cause uneven tire wear which can cause extra tire noise.

Rotors warped, wheel bearings, tires, alignment, bushings shot, tie rods, ball joints......

Half of those will not cause a humming noise while driving. Warped rotors will vibrate while braking, and alignment/shot bushings/tie rods/ball joints will cause a vibration while driving.

 

[MStudt]

Sounds like a front wheel bearing to me, and it sounds like you haven't checked that yet. Jack up the passenger side, give the wheel a spin, and listen for a grinding noise. Do the same thing on the passenger side too. The sound you're describing is the sound you get when you have a bad wheel bearing. The speed you're hearing it at also matches up. My experience with bad wheel bearing matches your description to the T. The noise came on around 25mph, and was constant after that. If never changed tone, got louder, but instead remained constant.

Mike

 

[Dieselchessy]

Since you have a 2wd there is no way for you to check your front bearings using the drivetrain while on jack stands. Is there any change in pitch or volume if you keep a steady speed but shift the vehicle weight side to side by turning? If you notice a change in pitch or volume then you have a bad front wheel bearing. TYPICALLY the bad wheel bearing will be the one that gets lowder with more noise. Ex: Turning right causes the left wheel bearing to get more load.

I'd also try rotating your front tires to the rear to see if the noise follows them. A bad alignment could also cause uneven tire wear which can cause extra tire noise.



Half of those will not cause a humming noise while driving. Warped rotors will vibrate while braking, and alignment/shot bushings/tie rods/ball joints will cause a vibration while driving.

Some of those will directly cause a growling noise, and the others will indirectly cause a tire humming noise.

Warped rotors don’t just cause vibration while braking. They can cause vibration even when the brakes aren’t applied.