A couple of days ago I started hearing a thumping noise from my rear right wheel. It's a low pitched thump that sounds like its once every wheel turn (thumping faster as I speed up). I can hear it mostly at low speeds. Do you think it's the wheel bearing, or could it be something wrong with the tire?

Yesterday, the rear left wheel also started making a noise. It's still once every wheel turn, but its very short and high pitched, sounds as if a small stone would be caught in the tire, but I checked twice.. maybe I didn't find it or do you think its the wheel bearing on this one too.?

Radu

 

Could be:

-Wheel unaligned
-Bad tires(due to alignment)
-Need new struts
-Need new wheel bearing
-Unaligned discs(if you have 4 whee disc brakes.)

 

I tought only the front wheels are involved in an alignment.. guess I was wrong huh?
The brakes (calipers,rotors,pads) are brand new, plus the sound does not change during braking, so I don't think it's the brakes. I don't really think the struts could be the issue either, since driving on smooth or bumpy roads does not seem to make a difference..
I think I will temporarily swap the rear wheels and see if the sounds change place or not smile.gif
I would really appreciate any other suggestions or input.. E.g. is there a way I can check my wheel bearing? (other than checking wheel free-play)

 

Maybe the dog you hit is shifting around back there joke.gif
If it was a bad tire, enough to make noise, you'd visibly be able to see something. I'd pull it off all together and give it a good inspection. But chances are if the tire was bad you'd feel it more than hear it. Discs/calipers would be more of a grinding sound. I just had one lock up on me a few months back. Worth inspecting but probably not the issue.

 

my front wheel did it for about a week. Turns out the idiot that put my wheel back on for me didn't tighten them properly, and it wasn't flush -- resulted in breaking one of the wheel studs off and the tire was literally wobbling while driving. As I sped up, it'd get faster. When I would brake, it would stop and the wheel would straighten up. Took me a week to figure out I was missing a stud!

 

I still have no idea what can be causing this. The lug nuts are tight. I jacked it up and the tire looks fine. The rotor I think is not perfect, when I rotate the wheel, in some areas I can feel it's slightly easier to turn it (very slightly though) (rotors are brand new from rotorpros, caliper/pads are new as well). I don't think this is it, because the problem sound I hear is different.
I checked for wheel play, everything seems tight.
The thing is that I can feel no vibration whatsoever, I can only hear it slightly at slow speeds. Doesn't sound like an unbalanced wheel can cause this then can it?
Any ideas?

Thanks