Used car fault - OK to reject?

[Dracoro]

liner33 said:

It might not be the issue of course but since your symptoms are the same as 99% of others that suffer stepped or sawtoothing tyres on these cars , Occums razor applies

Either way is almost certainly not a wheel bearing so if you love the car its probably worth putting a fresh set of tyres on and getting the geometry done

There's no harsh edging ("saw toothing") on the tyres, either visually or to feel, that I can detect. As I say, the tyres are not old and loads of tread (7mm). One tyre is newer than the others (4923 rather than 4023).

If it's definitely tyres, then will prob wear them out (that will take a while as not a high mileage driver these days!) and then see if replacement/alignment helps or not. They're not cheap tyres and no point replacing all if not all have any issues.....

[Dracoro]

Further note/update, all wheels are now on opposite corner to what they were originally (and I tested changing just 2 wheels at a time) and noise still the same.

[zedx19]

Noise still coming from the same axle? Or noise following the wheels around?

[Dracoro]

Sounds exactly the same no matter which corner a wheel is put on. Sounds like from left side somewhere. Can't really tell if rear or front.

[Simpo Two]

Dracoro said:

Sounds exactly the same no matter which corner a wheel is put on. Sounds like from left side somewhere. Can't really tell if rear or front.

I'd just point out that a week ago:

Dracoro said:

So I took it to local garage (not same place as above) and they have diagnosed as rear wheel bearing needs replacement.

They've seen the car, nobody here has. So I'd proceed as per Plan A and get the bearing changed.

[liner33]

Simpo Two said:

They've seen the car, nobody here has. So I'd proceed as per Plan A and get the bearing changed.

Garage told my uncle his wheel bearings were shot on his Golf , they had reamed him for a set of 4 and new front discs before I told him to try the tyres

[Dracoro]

Note I have put the spare (space saver) wheel on both front and rear (nearside) and same noise regardless.

So whilst it “might” be tyres, there’s no way to identify which one is culprit given sound is same not matter which corner each tyre is put on.

Anyway, in on Monday for further check…

[Trevor555]

Dracoro said:

Note I have put the spare (space saver) wheel on both front and rear (nearside) and same noise regardless.

So whilst it “might” be tyres, there’s no way to identify which one is culprit given sound is same not matter which corner each tyre is put on.

Anyway, in on Monday for further check…

When tyres are stepped you can often feel it by running the flat of your hand over the surface of the tyre blocks.

Run your hand both ways, and if you can feel a difference in the blocks, then you have stepping, which can cause the noise.