Slight drone only worn tyres I hope

[Pappa583]

Have a slight drone to the car rear I think? which has been noticeable for a few journeys now.... I do a pretty long just under 300 mile journey every few weeks and have noticed the noise for a while. Isnt as loud as a wheel bearing yet 🤞 and the wife hasnt noticed, but not sure she would 😅 

I did rotate the fronts to the rear about 6-8 month ago as the difference in tyre wear was a few mm, the tyres are all 4,  a set of Bridgestone alenzas.

Hope the drone I'm hearing is the worn rears which I've measured around 3mm.... front 4-5 ish so. Found currently there's 20% off when buying a set of 4 tyres but  still a few miles left on these..... Was suprised after buying a digital guage they had the mm's left as was all ready for changing them out! 

Had a full transmission service carried out on the car when I got it at a zf gearbox specialist including diffs, transfer and gearbox for peace of mind and it hasn't yet reached 60k miles so tyres i hope.....

Anyone else experienced the tyre noise when they are worn but not quite even worn to the wear indicators.... 

Suppose the only way to eliminate the tyres would be to change them but it's gonna be around £1k for the 4 corners 🥵, hoping it's a tyre wear thing and not the onset of a costlier repair bill?

[Pappa583]

3 hours ago, jasonj said:

Hi Paul,

1:  Was the noise there before or after you swapped them around?

2: Which tyres had the uneven wear Front or Rear?

3: Uneven tread will cause a noise . Due to the groves being at differing depths, ( like  vinyl records )

4: Laser wheel Alignment can adjust the wheels for Toe, Camber and Castor 

5: As the tyres are not unformal, the noise frequency will change with speed and road surface . This is an indication and conformation that this noise will not be mechanical. Jasonj

 

Cant say I remember the noise then tbh, has seemed to be more noticeable recently, well the last few long journeys I've noticed the slight drone and even turned the music off to see if I could definatly hear it.

Wouldn't say its so much uneven wear accross the surface of the tyre, just now the more worn (3mm) fronts are now on the rear and the fronts (4.5mm) have the old rears. Looking at the tyres they appear more worn than when the guage measures the depth as these alenzas don't have alot of cross cuts in the tread anyway?

Was even thinking while the tyres are on 20% off could change the 4 and keep the 2 fronts as spare but not going for the same tyres this time and wouldn't mix the types on the car anyway so it's maybe an expensive mistake to loose the drone. Although the tyres will need changing in a few more months anyway..... 🤷

Now I'm thinking if the noise changes with different surfaces 🤔.....sure it does. I've had wheel bearings go bad in cars over the years and know the noise obviously starts slight and gets worse just never had such a heavy car with the quattro so was hoping owners have experienced the same and new tyres sorted the problem? 🤞

[Pappa583]

1 hour ago, jasonj said:

Hi Paul, 

1: From the images you present 1234

images 1 and 3 do show uneven wear .

2: Wheel noise is the sound you hear of cars on a motorway, even if you are some miles away , say in the country side you can hear traffic on motorways that are a few miles away . So much so that noise reducing compounds are used in the road surface . 

3: As this vehicle is 4wd 60% Rear 40% Front . This is also a factor that will impact on tyres

4: Wheel Alignment might be a consideration .

5: Research Tyre Compounds , before replacement . Jasonj

If they are already worn unevenly suppose need to get the wheel Alignment done when i change them. Either put up for now and change when they are prob back to full price....

Tyres im looking at are Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 SUV Tyres: 285/40 R21 109Y. Extra Load, Rim Protector. £866 fitted

[Pappa583]

On 2/19/2024 at 2:19 PM, Pappa583 said:

If they are already worn unevenly suppose need to get the wheel Alignment done when i change them. Either put up for now and change when they are prob back to full price....

Tyres im looking at are Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 SUV Tyres: 285/40 R21 109Y. Extra Load, Rim Protector. £866 fitted

If only I had just bought them when the 20% was off.... over £1000 now 😳

[Pappa583]

Well, after all this time, still no new tyres as they still legal.... turns out the tyres are not noisy at all.... driver side rear wheel bearing changed yesterday and what a difference.... the car is almost silent now!

2 sets of bearings, inner amd outer and one of the sets, all the balls bearings were a psychedelic blue almost from the heat.... Good to know the noise I had heard did exist as the other half said it was just road noise..... must admit though this last journey pulling the caravan back from the lakes it got alot worse. I got the wife to drive after I'd dropped the caravan off, climbed in the back and lifted the floor cover up to get my head down to the wheel arch and was pretty clear which side.....

Happy at last but tyres are coming with another handful of pound notes to hand over 😭

[cliffcoggin]

I have never come across wheel bearings that have over-heated unless there is a lubrication fault, which seems unlikely if the car has been well maintained. That leads me to wonder if the caravan is over loading them. Have you checked the load on the tow hitch?

[Magnet]

Many thanks for the update Paul,

In addition to Cliff’s queries, I think I’m reading it correctly, that you changed the actual bearings in the original hub casing- correct? 
If so, any particular reason why you chose this labour intensive route, rather than renewing the hub assembly - complete - already fitted with new bearings? 
Kind regards,

Gareth.