Feb 10, 2025
8
1
Hello,

I’ve been dealing with a humming noise for quite a while now. It starts whenever I go above 50 km/h and becomes noticeably louder around 120 km/h. At higher speeds, the general road noise starts to mask it.

Last year, I had a bad front left wheel bearing replaced by a garage. After that, I ordered two SKF bearings for the rear axle and one FAG bearing for the front from Amazon.

This year, both rear SKF bearings turned out to be bad, so just yesterday I replaced them with two FAG bearings ordered from Autodoc. Unfortunately, the noise is still there.

Here’s what I’ve tested so far, but I still can’t find a clear cause:

  • Driving side to side to see if the noise changes - no difference.
  • Went under the car with a stethoscope and checked both front wheel bearings - couldn’t notice any obvious difference.
  • Checked the wheels for play (up/down and side-to-side) - no play.
  • Swapped to a different set of wheels with winter tires - the noise remained.
I’m still open to the possibility that it’s a wheel bearing, but I can’t find any clear indication pointing to one specifically.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I've added a video of the noise: Seat Leon Cupra 280 Humming Noise
 
I had a noise that sounded like a bad wheel bearing some years ago. Turned out it was sawtooth / stepped tyre wear (a.k.a ‘cupping’) on the inside edge of the rear tyres; apparently not that uncommon on cars with independent rear suspension. If your tyres are suffering from sawtooth tyre wear, if you run your hand around the inside of the tyre tread, you will probably be able to feel the stepped tread wear. In particularly bad cases, you can also see it.

You can see a picture of sawtooth tyre wear in the second post of the discussion topic at the link below;

 
  • Like
Reactions: Bahnstormer_vRS