Wheel bearing noise.......or is it tyres!!!

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Mechanoid
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Wheel bearing noise.......or is it tyres!!!

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For a few weeks now I have had what sounds like a noisy wheel bearing on the NS rear. Not apparent until about half an hour of driving and things warm up a bit.

Now I've had wheel bearings go on me before and know the noise they make so was a little concerned that my still warrantied B6 having this sort of trouble so soon! I mentioned my concern at the recent lube service and they checked the wheel and said it was OK, I said the noise is still there and they agreed to take a better look at it when they did the recent steering rack change under warranty. Still said it was OK!. By now, I was wondering what the 'ell was going on! I re-emphasised that the noise only occurred after about half an hour of travelling and perhaps it needed to be 'warm' when it was checked. We sort of left it so that I could pop in with it when convenient and take one of their guys out to hear it for himself. Due to time restraints though, I couldn't really fit it in but what I did do was record the noise on my iPaq so I could let them hear it for themselves.

Armed with the recording, I called into the dealership yesterday so I could justify my concern. However, the service reception guy said " It is possibly tyre related as this sort of thing has happened several times before". I was thinking, "Oh no! not the tyres making a noise thing again" He then said, " To remove all doubt, I'll get the rear wheels changed for the ones on my Passat and you can take it for a drive and see if it has made any difference."

I thought "what the heck, sounds fair to me" and the wheels were duly swapped and I took the Passat out for a spin for about 40 minutes which included a very smooth bit of road just outside Brighton where normally the Passat sounds like it has suddenly become airborne and not even touching the road. With the problem, you could very clearly hear the failing wheel bearing sound, with the 'new' wheels however...........nothing...absolutly nothing...sounded just like it did when I first bought the car!!! I even did a double take and ran up the same piece of smooth road just to make sure!

With my original wheels back on, (Dunlop SP Sport 01s) the noise returns! To say I was a bit gob smacked is putting it mildly! The Dealership, (Caffyn's Portslade) have been great about it, didn't even want any payment for the wheel swapping exercise. Good old fashioned good customer care like it should be! :D

Now! What the hell is wrong with that tyre!!!!!! :shock: A meticulous inspection revealed only a couple of stones stuck in the tread, no damage, no strange bulges, good tread.........looks as good as the rest! I think my best option is to have it swapped over to the spare!

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