Loud humming noise. Tires?

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My girlfriend has an 01 Impala 3.8 and there is a loud hum that seems to be coming from the front end. I believe I have mentioned it on here before. Anyway, I was thinking it could be a result of odd tire wear.

Today I actually rotated the tires, or at least moved the fronts to the rear and the rears to the front. They are directional tires--Goodyear Assurance TripleTred.

After I rotated the tires today, I went out for a ride hoping the sound would be lessened or that it would now be coming from the rear of the car. It does not seem that anything has changed.

The sound is loudest at about 55-60 mph and after driving for a while and things get warmed up, I believe the sound gets quieter. If you swerve to the right, the sound gets quieter or goes away completely but if you swerve to the left, there is really no change.

After rotating the tires today and not noticing a difference on the highway, I decided to jack up the drive wheels and get it up to speed to see how that would sound. I did not notice any humming up to 70 mph or anything out of the ordinary with the drive wheels off the ground.

I'm not sure what to do next, I was thinking maybe something like a wheel bearing was going out but wouldn't that make a sound even when the drive wheels are off the ground? Or maybe without a real load on the components, it wouldn't make the sound, I don't know. The tires do not look to be in horrible condition though they have not been rotated for a while. Also, tirerack.com surveys show good scores for road noise on this particular tire.

Does anyone have any advice?
 
your wheel bearing is shot, replace it right away before you get more trouble.

when you turn and it goes quieter, that can only be the bearing.
 
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So which side would you guys say the bad wheel bearing is on if it gets quieter when I turn right?

Or should I just replace both sides while I am at it?
 
I agree on the wheel bearing. Just an FYI on my experience with my '01 Grand Prix which probably uses the same bearing. My local tire/repair place uses only NAPA parts and they have replaced my bearings multiple times. The originals lasted 80-120k miles and the NAPA ones are lasting anywhere from 6-10 months maximum. One was bad when new. They have been replacing them under warranty for free otherwise I'd be going somewhere else and eventually will.

Who makes a good bearing?
 
I'd say it is the right bearing, since when you swerve right and throw weight that way, that the noise goes away.

Congrats for starting out by rotating the tires, to see if the noise moves as well. Most folks won't start there.
 
Originally Posted By: dsmith41
So which side would you guys say the bad wheel bearing is on if it gets quieter when I turn right?

lift the front off the ground and tug on each wheel... often times, the wheel with a bad bearing will have some play, alas, not always.
 
Definitely the wheel bearing, my cavalier did the exact same thing. Loud humming noise louder at certain speeds, got louder turning left, went away turning right. Mine was one of the cases where there was no noticable play when jacked up.
 
I think its the TripleTreds. I bought a set for my 05 Altima at 28K and the tires hum like old snow tires from the 70's.
 
Originally Posted By: steveh
I think its the TripleTreds. I bought a set for my 05 Altima at 28K and the tires hum like old snow tires from the 70's.


Really? I have the same tires and I don't have that problem at all. The problem with mine was the wheel bearing, and I would bet a day's wages that it isn't the tires.
 
Yes, likely the right front wheel bearing. This is a large bearing assembly, not individual replaceable bearings. Often they are quiet when jacked up for inspection. The "individual" bearings used years ago seemed to be easy to troubleshoot by spinning by hand, the new assemblies are not.

My Lumina APV got howling loud, and still could not feel it by hand testing. A stethoscope from Harbor Freight helped a lot, but.......

I was not really sure until I changed it..... silence prevailed!!

I cleaned up the old bearing assembly, it still sounds ok when you just run it with your hands.

When the old individual bearings failed, they would feel terrible when you hand spun them!
 
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