Excessive road noise-probably wheel bearing?

[darrinsmith]

Hi

My 2004 turbo is super noisy when driving.

Just like worn tyre roar. I just put new tyres all round and the noise is still there. It is definately speed dependent. The previous owner had the wrong size tyres on it, so I hope the diffs not screwed.

I'm hoping it's "just" the wheel bearings.

Its hard to pin point whether it's front or back but I think its the front.

Does this seem likely?

I'll tackle most jobs, but this is one I don't have the tools for, so its an Indy job I guess.

Any ideas how I might isolate front noise from the rear? The car is a cab so it's a bit tricky to pin point the noise. It seems all around you.

I also have a spare brand new front wheel bearing from my old 2wd 99 996. Will this fit the turbo?

Thanks

Darrin Smith

[JFP in PA]

HiMy 2004 turbo is super noisy when driving.Just like worn tyre roar. I just put new tyres all round and the noise is still there. It is definately speed dependent. The previous owner had the wrong size tyres on it, so I hope the diffs not screwed.I'm hoping it's "just" the wheel bearings.Its hard to pin point whether it's front or back but I think its the front.Does this seem likely?I'll tackle most jobs, but this is one I don't have the tools for, so its an Indy job I guess.Any ideas how I might isolate front noise from the rear? The car is a cab so it's a bit tricky to pin point the noise. It seems all around you.I also have a spare brand new front wheel bearing from my old 2wd 99 996. Will this fit the turbo?ThanksDarrin Smith

The best way is to put the car up in the air and rotate the wheels and listen, usually a bad bearing is very obvious when you test this way. I'm pretty sure the 99 front wheel bearing is not the same as the rear one on your car as the part numbers are different.

[TomTiddler]

OK, unlikely as this may seem, I had a speed related noise from my tires last year which nearly drove me crazy. Sounded like a low hum, with the frequency increasing (higher note, same volume) with speed. Turned out I had a small (~1mm) dent in both rear rims, must have hit the edge of one of the many "trenches" dug across our rural Ontario roads. Expensive, as I had to ditch a lovely set of factory hollow spoke rims. Sigh.

[JFP in PA]

OK, unlikely as this may seem, I had a speed related noise from my tires last year which nearly drove me crazy. Sounded like a low hum, with the frequency increasing (higher note, same volume) with speed. Turned out I had a small (~1mm) dent in both rear rims, must have hit the edge of one of the many "trenches" dug across our rural Ontario roads. Expensive, as I had to ditch a lovely set of factory hollow spoke rims. Sigh.

It may have been possible to have one of the wheel refurbishers fix them, they can often work wonders' particularly on hard to replace or match wheels.

[TomTiddler]

Not 100% comfortable at the track with refurbished, probably overcautious, but still ........

[Silver_TT]

It may have been possible to have one of the wheel refurbishers fix them, they can often work wonders' particularly on hard to replace or match wheels.

I don't mean to highjack this thread, but I had a couple questions for JFP regarding this specific comment (I don't need this service but am curious).

First, do you happen to know what wheel refurbishing companies by name are known to be the best / most capable? It seems there are a number of them out there.

Second, what are the success rates for repairing bent wheels from, say, pot holes? Specifically I've read in the past that these wheels need to be heated to a very high temperature by these shops to make them malleable. I've read that on these Porsche soft alloy wheels this can often cause them to crack (maybe more prone on wheels such as the TT hollow spokes). I was just wondering if a really good refurbishing company has high success rates based on your experience...or if this is more of a "your mileage may vary" type of thing. When you read stuff like this you never know how good the individual was that was working on the wheel..........

[JFP in PA]

It may have been possible to have one of the wheel refurbishers fix them, they can often work wonders' particularly on hard to replace or match wheels.

I don't mean to highjack this thread, but I had a couple questions for JFP regarding this specific comment (I don't need this service but am curious).

First, do you happen to know what wheel refurbishing companies by name are known to be the best / most capable? It seems there are a number of them out there.

Second, what are the success rates for repairing bent wheels from, say, pot holes? Specifically I've read in the past that these wheels need to be heated to a very high temperature by these shops to make them malleable. I've read that on these Porsche soft alloy wheels this can often cause them to crack (maybe more prone on wheels such as the TT hollow spokes). I was just wondering if a really good refurbishing company has high success rates based on your experience...or if this is more of a "your mileage may vary" type of thing. When you read stuff like this you never know how good the individual was that was working on the wheel..........

Who we would go to depends upon the extent of the damage. Simple "curb rash" cosmetic touch up type repairs, we use a local guy that comes out in a specially equipped truck and does the repairs at our shop. For something more serious, we have used both Wheel Enhancement (http://www.wheelenhancement.com/index.php?t=Accessories) or Rimpro (http://www.rimpro.com). The wheels need to be dismounted, boxed up and shipped to them for assessment (not everything is fixable) and repairs. Rimpro seem to be able to handle the more seriously damaged wheels, but both have done very nice work for us in the past. At times, both Wheel Enhancement and Rimpro have told us that a particular wheel cannot be safely repaired, which is fine because you do not want a wheel to look good and then promptly fail on a customer. Both companies are also very good at sourcing replacements for "beyond hope" cases, particularly the odd or hard to find ones.

As this is a pretty popular repair, I'm sure there are many other competent rim repair shops around the country as well, so asking your local PCA chapter for a recommendation would also be a good idea.