Droning

[toxfly]

I've a 2.0d Turbo with DSG on an Altea.

7000 miles no issues until in the last fortnight a drone has started to kick in at 1500rmp and continue thereafter. I've checked out out lots of forums and seen quite a few mentions of the same problem on the same engine but no solutions!

It's not bearing, I've had them checked, its been serviced. Tyres are OK but it sounds a engine noise.

it's very irritating and taken the edge of driving what's been a great car otherwise.

Any ideas?

 

[Andrewcupra TDI]

i have a drone , its turned out it was my tires out of shape , numerous garages failed to spot the problem and couldnt worj it out

its not even clearer as i put the problem tires from back to the front and has changed the noise a differnt tone , so i know its them and soon as worn il change them for better ones

 

[ChrisGTL]

My local garage told me my wheel bearings were find when I had a droning.

Then AwesomeGTI had a look at it and it turned out to be a..........yep you guessed it....a wheel bearing.

Replaced and been fine ever since. Second opinion?

 

[loadswine]

I had a drone at the back of my 2.0 TDi DSG Altea as well. I was convinced it was wheel bearings until I changed the rear tyres ( premature wear due to duff settings) and the noise disappeared.

I have a new issue now, but that is more a vibration than a noise and only under hard acceleration. I won't take this off topic though with more of that.

 

[Chris Bartram]

Droning rear tyres are common on Golf V, Octavia II, Audi A3 8P, and Leon II. If you have non-directional tyres you can swap the tyres side to side which will help. If you feel the tread you can feel a sawtooth wear pattern on them.

 

[toxfly]

Thanks for the replies.

I've become an anal obsessive listening to the drone and following your tips it does appear to be independent of the engine. The bearings are fine but close inspection of the tyres suggests they need replacing in a few thousand miles so these are the most likely culprits. I'll bring forward their replacement and hopefully that'll be it.

 

[loadswine]

The worst tyres for noise that I have experienced were the Bridgestones, truly awful compared with everything else I've tried. Goodyear F1 GSD3s were the quietest. (and best)

 

[Andrewcupra TDI]

mine were exactly that , previous owner had put brand new wanlis on extra load and everything ,

within a few months of wear they started to drone, i was adamand it was bearings , due to previous car had problems, big wheels little car i kinda had the tone drummed into me

still on there now , have moved to fronts so they will wear qcker than on the back,

ive done at least 10k on them on front and (20k since had it last year when they were new on the back ) ,

and still have no signs of dying !!!