Annoying Humming noise!! Help!!!

[Mohammed]

• I've been hearing a Humming sound for the past 2months. It comes from around the car I cannot tell where it's coming from. Checked my tyres they are all fine. I recently changed my tyres they are hankook tyres but I have checked them and they look fine. I went to my mechanic to check the bearings he said they're all fine and he cannot distinguish where the sound is coming from. It is annoying me alot now and just to say the sound is not directly relative to rpm but is to speed. Turning left or right does not changed the noise and when I put it in neutral the noise doesn't changed either. Also road surface does not change noise. I am still thinking it is bearings just cannot figure. Sorry for long thread but this issue is very annoying so trying to give as much info as possible. I also have a video but do not know where to post it. Noise starts at about 20mph and all the way to motorway speeds and my car is a 2005 audi a3 2.0 petrol.
• I have attached the video.
• Thanks!20160903_155835.mp4

[Trevor]

Hi Mohammed...welcome to the forum!

Did the noise start when you had the Hankooks fitted?

I have battled with this problem before and it was the tyres...changed them for another brand..sorted!

Maybe worth seeing if you can borrow a set of different wheels/tyres for a short period to see if there is any change?

Let us know how you get on with it

Cheers   Trevor

[Mohammed]

Hi Trevor,

Unfortunately I am not sure if the noise started after I changed the tyres as I usually drive with music and I noticed the noise one day I drove early in the morning with no music. So I am not entirely sure. My rear tyres nead changing soon, therefore I would get new tyres put them on the front and move the present front hankook tyres and move them to the rear and see if anything changes. A few people heard the sound and told me it's coming from the front. So when I swap the hankooks to the back I will see if there's any difference. 

Cheers

[Mohammed]

Hello Trevor, 

So I done what I said I was going to do in my previous message, changed the tyres noise still exists. I spun the front wheels and held the suspension couldn't feel any vibration. Do you reckon it could still be the front bearings? What do you think my next steps are? 

Thanks 

[Trevor]

It's a difficult one as I used to own a Nissan X-Trail and this had the same issue. Read some posts on forums, all saying the same thing...tyres! Changed my tyres, noise went.

Sometimes they lay new road surface which although improves grip by adding certain compounds to the mix but also leads to increased road noise.

I think if it was me I would try a few different road surfaces (that you don't normally travel on) to see if it changes or disappears before throwing wheel bearings at it.

If still no joy then try to diagnose when the noise disappears (e.g. turning left or right) which should determine which bearing is faulty

[Mohammed]

I drive on all different surface; motorway, smooth, rough, bumpy. Sound stays the same, as well as turning left or right I can't tell any difference in noise change. Most forums I've read about say its the bearings as they say recent bearings don't show play or noise when you spin each wheel. It's very annoying and I know what you mean if I go change bearings and noise stays the same I will be really annoyed.

 

Thanks 

[Trevor]

Bearings do not tend to show wear nowadays, unlike the old fashioned taper roller type bearing.

However, if a bearing is worn is should 'grumble' when rotated but you can't really simulate it as there is no load on the bearing when jacked up...so no real way of telling if it's knackered apart from obvious movement due to wear.

You could turn the radio up!    sorry, couldn't resist that.