Could be wheel bearing?
 

I started to notice a sound on flat roads...It sounds like an intermitent buzz, as if the wheels ¨touch¨this spot every so revolutions of the wheels.

Let´s say I´m going 50 MPH, it sound:

Fhoom....Fhoom...Fhoom...(Tried to reproduce the time intervals)

If I slow down, it will go slightly slower, but it is not DIRECTLY speed dependant.

Any clue? Wheel bearings?

Thanks for the feedback guys!

maybe the rotors? one could be warped. i think they have a spray that will quite it. If it works you should look into getting them shaved or replaced all together

my car did the same thing, when i sped up it got fast a bit too. It was my hub bearing, it was eventually so bad that it caused my car to un align itself. If its your hub bearing make sure you fix it soon.

If the sound frequency does not track vehicle speed directly that suggests the problem is not a wheel bearing.

Jack up the car and grab the tire at 12o'clock and 6o'clock and check for play.

Yep wiggle the tire. Sounds like a baring though

I just replaced a passenger side bearing in my '97 I30. If it's the wheel bearing, it'll let you know as the sound will become louder and louder until finally you cannot ignore it. I couldn't really tell if the sound was increasing with speed because it was a loud scraping type sound constantly. Try the shake test 3 -9 for tie rod, 6 - 12 for wheel bearing, 2-8 for ball joint. However, when my bearing was toast, I had no play in the wheel, just the horrible sound. I had to eliminate all other causes, and then I finally tore into it, removed the knuckle, and heard the sound definitively when I spun the hub by hand and it kinda sounded like a can of marbles when rotated. It should be a little tough to rotate, but smooth with no sound when turning. If you get a rubbing or scraping sound, then it's toast.

^+1 Sometimes it isnt always increasing sound with speed, mine was so bad that it was because the bearing was completely pressed out, it will still make noise regardless.

So vox populli is that the wheel bearing is most likely the culprit...I´ll do the wiggle just to confirm.


By the way, would the wheel bearing cause poor mpg?

Thanks for the feedback guys!

By the way, I've just replaced both sides LCA's with new ball joints, Sway bar bushings, inner /outer tie rods, and last year the CV joints...So the only rotating part left are the wheel bearings I believe, that´s why I thought these suckers could be to blame.

By the way...JUST KIDDING! HAHAHA!

sounds like bearing. I have it too.!

For the record, it was the driver side wheel bearing.

I don't know about soon story because I heard mice bearing ( wasn't sure it is at that time) in December 2011 and it disappear. It start again in May 2012. I fixed then. But don't see reason for panic, can be driven for a while. Yes it is bearing. Ball joint make noise at bumps.

Damn those mice bearings, they're such a pain.