Rumbling noise from front left of car

[The Daily Meme]

So tonight on the way home I noticed excessive rumbling from the front left of the car. I had originally put. Down to road noise as the road is pretty uneven. However the noise persisted when the road smoothed out.

the noise is similar to that of a tyre defect, as if there is something on the tyre. Anyway... I think it could be a bearing. The frequency of the rumble changes with the speed of the car rather than the speed of the engine which leads me to believe the issue is after the clutch.

car was serviced approximately 3,000 miles ago and there was no comment on the service about anything nearing a replacement.

any suggestions of things to check to save the mechanic some time? I’m sure they’d know what it was anyway but just incase.


Thanks.

 

[RUM4MO]

Frequency changing with the speed of the car sounds a bit like a wheel bearing starting to get noisy, well known on most VW Group cars it seems!

 

[LouG]

It does sound like a bearing. Jack it up and spin the wheel, have a listen. You may have to get both wheels off the ground and start it.

 

[LouG]

Frequency changing with the speed of the car sounds a bit like a wheel bearing starting to get noisy, well known on most VW Group cars it seems!

Delicate wheel bearings, and people want to use spacers?

 

[womble68]

Can't remember if the leon has brake shields or not. If it has could there be a stone or similar trapped somewhere causing the noise, just another alternative.

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[MifSal]

is the rumbling when you accelarate? I have a similar noise under heavy load in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear and im sure its something to do with the engine mounts

 

[The Daily Meme]

is the rumbling when you accelarate? I have a similar noise under heavy load in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear and im sure its something to do with the engine mounts

No, it is a constant noise that is persistent when coasting as well as under acceleration.
I liken it to a very dull thudding, rather than something scraping.

 

[RUM4MO]

If it is a dull thudding the maybe you have a defective tyre, or one with a flat spot on it, I had an almost new Goodyear tyre on a car once that had a serious flat spot on it, and it must have been due to a manufacturing error - Goodyear did refund me some cash on that one even although it was a Ford factory fit original tyre. I had not noticed anything when driving that car, I was just being smart checking it when I jacked the car up and spun the rear wheel, a lot easier to check with a not driven wheel.

 

[The Daily Meme]

I've booked it in to be looked at tomorrow, hopefully the garage can figure it out.

As for the tyres, they've done about 20,000 miles now. I replaced the previous pair at about 20,000 miles as well. Given that people get about 7,000 out of their PS4S etc, I thought that seemed quite high, but I don't do any hard driving really, mostly gentle driving on dual carriageways. As I said, car was serviced and MOT'd 3,000 miles ago and tyres were still going strong.

Amazingly the rear tyres are the ones it came out the factory on!

 

[LouG]

No, it is a constant noise that is persistent when coasting as well as under acceleration.
I liken it to a very dull thudding, rather than something scraping.

A dying wheel bearing is very distinctive, a constant rumble, like low frequency white noise. The only time it would make a rythmic sound is when it's collapsed and the wheel is flopping around.

 

[The Daily Meme]

So the garage put it down to the rear tyres. Given their age I was about to replace them anyway but there must be an uneven part on one of the tyres.

the cars going to disappear in a couple months. I wonder if anyone can recommend a decent tyre that will be alright for a pair on the back. Last me about 5,000 miles of driving and won’t cost too much. Previous tyres were continental sport contact 3 and they’ve lasted this long. I changed the front two to Dunlop about 18 months ago.
Might just put Dunlop in the back.

 

[womble68]

For reasonably priced vs decent enough I'd say try the Goodyear eagle f1 assymmetrics.

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[HighFlyingBird]

Worth noting that the shield behind the brake discs can rust off, happened to my 1.2 SE and it left a nice big mark on the inside of the alloy, that was a rumbling noise for a while until it finally fell all the way off and starting grinding against the alloy

 

[The Daily Meme]

Yeah I had a chat with the guy at the garage. The tyres are the ones it came out the factory on, and whilst there is plenty of tread on them. They are 5 years old and are starting to crack. He reckons one of them is deformed slightly. For the sake of a pair of new tyres it is worth ruling out.

 

[LouG]

Probably delamination of the tread belts. It's often hard to see, but does weird things each time the weight goes on it.