Road noise - what is the culprit?

[beagler]

My 06 started making a weird road noise a few days ago. It gets louder and more intense with higher speeds. It reminds me of driving next to a truck with large mud tires. I do need new rear tires. The tread is low on them, so would this cause road noise? If not, any ideas?

[dima869]

Worn tires would cause road noise, especially if they are worn unevenly and there is cord showing. I would start with replacing tires and doing an alignment. If the noise is still there, you may have a bad wheel bearing.

[tuanngnt]

yes, mine has happened same thing and chaning rear tire got rid of those noises.

[2010exl]

Run your hand around the tire tread surface and feel for any uneven tread, especially near the inner portion. There may only be 1 area or dip in the tire, but that is enough to cause tread noise.

[osudelt69]

Tires, been there done that with my old jetta. Replace the worn tires and sound will go away.

[beagler]

Thanks everyone. I have never replaced a wheel bearing before. Is there a way to inspect it? What should I look for, and how much to fix if a mechanic does it for me. This is, of course, if the tires do not fix the problem.

[2010exl]

Wheel bearings can make several different sounds, ranging from a steady humming sound, or a steady growling sound, to a woo woo woo sound similar to the sound made by irregular tread wear.

Wheel bearing noise also gets louder as you increase the weight on the particular wheel. For example... A bad right front wheel bearing that makes noise will get louder as the road curves to the left, and it will get quieter as the road curves to the right.

Also, with the wheel off the ground, check for play in the wheel bearing. Grab the tire at the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock position and pry in and out. A bad wheel bearing doesn't always have free play, but if there is free play in the wheel bearing then it would need to be replaced.

If you do have irregular tread wear, you should address that first.
If you rotate the tires and the noise moves from front to back, or left to right if you cross rotate, then you know that the tires are a factor in the noise

[1YESfan]

I had issues with the rear end of one of my vehicles. I forget exactly but pretty sure the rear bearings or related to the rear differential going dry but my van would definetly make a noise as you described and would start to make noise probably around 60 m.p.h. and get louder from then on. Actually sounded kind of exciting at speed. ;-) I use to carry quite a bit of weight with it and trailers including a very large camping trailer at times. Between that and probably having other fluids changed at J.L. probably sped things up. It was older, served me well and ended up having other issues but I ran it for a while before replacement of vehicle.