I have been experiencing a weird noise that has stumped 3 dealers - if anyone has any suggestions, I would like to hear them.

The car is an 06 mr with about 45k miles and a lowered robispec race suspension with a -2.6/0 front and -1.6/0 rear alignment, and currently r888s

The noise sounds like a flat spotted tire and starts at about 45mph when I turn the steering slightly to the left (no braking).The frequency and volume is proportional to road speed and disappears when the steering is fully straight.

The dealers and an independent shop have checked the drive train, bearings, ball joints, brakes, redone the alignment, balanced 3 sets of tires and two sets of wheels, the noise is still there.

The current advice is "if it gets worse, bring it in"

Any advice would be helpful.

Ps: I first noticed the noise a month ago after a track day, an alignment and a new set of tires.

 

Where do you hear the noise? Front? Rear?

Are there any vibrations to go with the noise?

Harder left turn=louder noise?

Kind've sounds like a right hand wheel bearing issue if I had to guess though.

 

have they only checked the hub bearings or have they replaced them?

 

The noise is definitely coming from the front, I can't tell if left or right though. There is also a slight vibration that comes through the steering and the seat.

 

They have only checked them... ...both dealers and the independent swear everything looks good and feels tight. One of them did say it could be the bearing starting to go, but he said drive it until it gets worse.

 

The noise starts as soon as I turn off center - it gets louder with speed, not the angle of turning

 

ehhhh yea I would almost say replace the hub bearings and I bet that fixes it especially since you started to notice it after a track day...front hub bearing issues are common on evos especially if you track the car alot

 

If it's only on left handed turns start by replacing the R/F bearing, sounds like he's not happy when seeing a load anymore!

 

I thought bad bearings usually "howled" loudly and resulted in a "loose" wheel when jacked up? Is it possible for it to be bad and not have any other external signs part from what I described? Any reasons why the dealer would miss a bad bearing?

 

Yes it is very possible to have a bad bearing without the looseness in the wheel.

The usual sound from them is a howl yes but I've also heard the noise you're describing. If it were an issue with a diff it should make the noise turning either direction, same with a C/V end.

Unless the dealers were using chassis ears (pretty common tool) it can be hard to pinpoint the noises sometimes. Then it goes back to the "well it's not falling off yet...but bring it back when it does."

Chasing noises is one of the worst jobs you can do in a dealer, you don't really get paid well for the time so a lot of guys will either "shotgun" a system or tell you to bring it back when it sounds worse (faster/easier to diag).

 

That is the "usual" sign of a bad bearing...But wheel bearings are tricky sometimes especially sealed hub assemblys because you cant actually dissassemble and inspect the actual bearing...Hub assembly bearings can feel and appear tight but still cause a "squeel" at times when they are in the first stages of going out...I've had to diagnose some very odd sounding sealed hub bearing issues at the dealership I work at and unless they are toasted they are hard to duplicate and pinpoint...The fact that the dealer you went to said "if it gets worse come back" shows me that they have an idea of what it is but don't want to throw parts at it and have it bite them in the ***

 

Rotate your front tires to the rear and see if the sound moves. I have one tire on my car that makes noise. I thought I had a bad bearing on the front. It got especially loud if I swerved the car. I rotated tires and now the sound is at the rear.

All the tires look the same - same wear and no out of balance wheels or bent rims. Anyway, you said this started when you got new tires.

 

dude thats a bad wheel bearing hands down!

 

Thanks for the feedback. I just dropped it back at the dealer and will ask them to go ahead and change the rhs bearing tomorrow. I will post the results.

Thanks again.

 

As a retired instructor of Auto Mechanics, I have been able to verify which bearing is bad by loading and unloading the individual front tires by turning the vehicle. Although it is not always accurate. If the inner race is damaged on the top surface, the noise will be apparent when that wheel is unloaded Bottom line is I would replace them both.
Don