Wheel Bearings Going

[kevinjp]

My Leon TDI has now done 16,500 miles and is about 9 months old. There seems to be a sort of rumbling sound when I am driving at a constant speed (20-30 mph), it is especially noticable on newer resurfaced roads. This noise was not there when I first bought the car. Someone has mentioned that it could be the wheel bearings going, but I wouldn't of thought the car is old enough for that?

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[stokeballoon]

Have a check of the rear tyres, especially the inside edges. On my Golf they were prone to wearing abnormally, and creating a saw tooth profile, which had the effect of sounding like a land rover on good roads. the way to check is to run your hand around the tread, in the opposite way to the normal rotation, and it not be smooth.

SB

 

[stan boyd]

yeah i bought used alloys with toyo t1s on they were stepped as the guy above says, sounds like a wheel bearing sort of whurring noise, he had them on a golf to, tyre shop recon v pattern tyres wear that way

 

[TDI_Drew]

kevinjp, like yourself, I've also had this noise from about 8000 miles and now at 14,000, it is very loud. At 20-35mph it's at its worst and most obvious on smooth surfaces, kind of like a loud "wowow" sound. After 5 visits to the dealer, they finally found that it was the tyres - both the outside and inside edges have the sawtooth type wear and also cupping of some tread blocks too. BTW, the tyres are Bridgestone Potenza.

Does anyone think that it is the set-up of the car that may be causing this? I've never had this on any previous car and I have heard a few reports of this on the new Leon.

 

[kevinjp]

Hi there, mine has the same tyres, could it be that the tyres are faulty? My car is in a for a service today and I have asked them to take a look. I will let you know what their conclusion is.

 

[DavysFR]

Hi, I curently drive a ford focus zetec and have upgraded the wheels and tyres. Hope to get an FR TDI soon

I too have this problem with the tyres on my car (Bridgestone Potenzas
RE050's) but it only happens on smooth tarmac not rough surfaces.

I also thought it was a wheel bearing but had a mechanic check it and he said that it was fine so it must be the tyres then. Only put on 2 new ones on the front

 

[kevinjp]

Picked my car up from it's service. They say I need four new tyres and the front springs need removing and regreasing which will stop the rumbling sound.

Anyone recommend tyres to replace the Bridgestone ones?

 

[Tam]

Picked my car up from it's service. They say I need four new tyres and the front springs need removing and regreasing which will stop the rumbling sound.

Anyone recommend tyres to replace the Bridgestone ones?

If they are not worn out, i'd be looking at the garage/seat to replace them (especially the back ones!)

 

[kevinjp]

I asked them if they need replacing because of wear and they said yes. I have done nearly 19,000 miles so I guess they are due for replacing soon.

 

[BirdDog]

I've now done about 19k too and have just replaced the front tyres. However, the rears are hardly worn so I would second the comment about the garage/seat replacing them!

 

[Michael B]

Ive put less that 1K miles on my car and the fronts already you can tell are worn a bit more then the rears, I need to go a bit easier otherwise Il be eating tyres for dinner..

 

[techie]

However I have replaced a lot of wheel bearings on both A5 VWs and Skodas. They dont seem to last long at all.

 

[stuarttunstall]

I have the same trouble, only mine has done 9000 miles, but the yres still look unworn.

I have faxed a copy of this post to my dealer, who I hope is going to look into it now and get it rectified. I have also checked for the razor effect, and I can find it on 3 out of 4

I do not expect a new set of tyres for free, I dont mind paying a contribution based on the milage I ahve covered.