Tyre Roar Or Wheel Bearing Noise From The Back Of The Car ?

[Justin Smith]

Is the Ford Focus (or just my model) known to have a bit of noise emanating from the rear of the car ? Or is it just that it`s the most refined car I`ve ever owned so road noise/tyre roar seems that much worse ?

Anyway, the noise from the back of my car sounds a bit like a noisy wheel bearing. The garage took the car for a quick test drive (but not, unfortunately, on a fastish smooth road) and were unconvinced it was a bearing, they thought it could just as likely be tyre roar*. The noise seemed like it was coming from the passenger side so I had a new bearing fitted, at no small expense because of the anti lock sensors in the bearing/hub unit. But the noise is still there. Is it just my car or are all Focus estates (particularly those with wide tyres) the same ?

* Why in hell do Ford fit low profile 205s on a bleedin` estate car anyway, it`s not a "sports" model ! All it means for me is the soddin` tyres will cost more to replace.......

[stef123]

Try switching the front and rear tyres round, it could be that one of you tyres is slightly out of shape.

[alz]

Hi, I have kumho 205/55/16 on my 1.8 TDCI estate and have no problems with noise.

[artscot79]

Ide try the tyre swap its not uncommon for a tyre to lose its shape creating more noise in the process i chaged the low profile to normal tires

[Justin Smith]

I have finally got round to swapping the wheels (well the tyres are of more interest, but you can`t do one without the other ! ) from the back to the front. We think the noise has now moved to the front and may actually be worse than it was. The problem is tyre roar/bearing noise is the kind of sound which is problematic to work out what direction it`s coming from. I`ll wait a bit then swap them back again to confirm that it must be the tyres. I don`t know whether it`s of any bearing on the issue but the tyres which may be causing the problem are directional (though on the wheels the correct way) and are not a well known brand, whereas those which don`t seem to be as noisy are Firestone and non directional types. I`ll come back on when I get round to swapping the wheels back over.

I suppose I could experiment with swapping just one side over which may prove if it`s a mis-shapen tyre, but it`s all extra work !

I`m surprised the tyres could be creating so much noise because they do so from relatively low speeds.

Does anyone know if messing about with tyre pressures (though still within the recommended range) can reduce tyre roar ?

[TomsFocus]

Tyre pressures won't change the noise much if at all...I'm ashamed to say one of my rear tyres dropped to 12PSI and I didn't even notice!

Cheap tyres, particularly directonals, are often noisier....out of interest, it's not a Wanli Tyre is it? My Dad had one of these fitted to his Mondeo after a puncture and the noise was horrendous!

[Justin Smith]

I`ve now swapped the wheels back again and the noise does seemed to have moved, though it is a low frequency sound so it`s a bit more difficult to be certain. But having said that from what I`ve discovered the Firestone TZ300s seem to be reasonably quiet, the uni directional Federal Super Steel 595s are very noisy.

[Justin Smith]

On ‎02‎/‎09‎/‎2014 at 9:58 PM, alz said:

Hi, I have kumho 205/55/16 on my 1.8 TDCI estate and have no problems with noise.

I have now had 4 Kumho HS51 tyres fitted and can confirm the noise from the rear has now much reduced. The quoted noise figure for the Kumhos was (from the EU tyre label) 69dB, the quieter Firestone TZ300s are quoted at 70dB and the noisier Federal 595s were 74B, so the reduction in tyre roar is not together unexpected !

Incidentally, the tyre fitter said that directional tyres are often noisier than non directional types, even when fitted the correct way. I don`t know if there`s any truth to that generally speaking, but it was the case for my car/tyre combination.

[Devonboy]

The second day after purchasing my Focus I had cause to travel along a motorway and immediately noticed the tyre noise which I have never encountered on any car I have previously owned. All four tyres are of unknown origin probably from India. I have always fitted Continental or Uniroyal tyres and found these to be the best.

[Tom1994]

I had this problem on my ST, we traveled all the way to Germany with it and my friends and I were convinced it was the left side bearing gone.  Took it to the garage after getting back and there was nothing wrong with the car, the mechanic says new Fords, the Focus in particular is prone to the tires getting uneven wear and essentially developing (very minute) flat spots close to the wall of the tire.  I've recently had new tires on the front and swapped the old ones to the back since they had more life left and the noise seems to have gone.  Just not looking forward to find out if the noise comes back or not 

Just to point out the tires I had on the rear were Goodyear Eagle F1's so not exactly cheapo tires either

[ScaniaPBman]

Justin,

Here's my reply to another forum member with the same problem.

 

 

Berfore you get ripped off by the garage try this....

First get yourself a mechanics stethoscope.

Jack up the rear of your car with both wheels off the ground and supported by two axle stands. Front wheels to be chocked.

Get underneath with the stethoscope and listen to the wheel bearing while a friend spins the wheel.

You should hear next to nothing, just a gentle hum from a good bearing.

When I investigated MY rear bearing noise the bearings sounded just fine but when driving the noise was really loud inside.

I put the wheels from another Focus on then went for a drive. Magic, silence from the rear.

Answer to my problem was very noisy budget tyres.

Let's know how you get on.

ScaniaPBman.

[isetta]

if car jacked up and wheel spun a dodgy bearing will normally be heard/felt but I appreciate it can be hard to detect it.

In my experience a noisy wheel bearing changes note with speed and also load, so if you have some weight on it (so in on rear you might need to have the car loaded) and you drive along a road that goes up and down a fair bit you notice the difference as you kind of take off over a hump (the noise lessens) and when you come back down the noise increases