Car making rhythmic noise

[Mercury00]

I have an 05 Corolla which has developed a noise. The best way to describe it is like a washing machine drum spinning with a heavy load in - a kind of rhythmic, rotational sound. The noise does increase in frequency with speed, but is not related to engine speed ie. Pressing the clutch does not reduce the speed of the sound. There are no vibrations through the car. I'm thinking either tyres/ brakes/ wheel bearing?

Thanks in advance.

[Boosted LS1]

Has it got harmony?

[E-bmw]

Boosted LS1 said:

Has it got harmony?

Are we talking The Corrs now?

[M4cruiser]

Have you had a puncture repair in the past?
Sometimes the plug doesn't wear down flush with the tyre tread.

[Mercury00]

M4cruiser said:

Have you had a puncture repair in the past?
Sometimes the plug doesn't wear down flush with the tyre tread.

No, not that I know of or can see on the tyre.

[E-bmw]

If it were mine, I would be looking into 2 possibilities from personal experience.

1. Wheel bearings.

2. Uneven tyre wear.

On the second point I have seen tyres with a saw-tooth pattern of wear on subsequent tread blocks that is virtually invisible until the wheel is removed & checked at close quarters.

[Mercury00]

E-bmw said:

If it were mine, I would be looking into 2 possibilities from personal experience.

1. Wheel bearings.

2. Uneven tyre wear.

On the second point I have seen tyres with a saw-tooth pattern of wear on subsequent tread blocks that is virtually invisible until the wheel is removed & checked at close quarters.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Dal3D]

E-bmw said:

If it were mine, I would be looking into 2 possibilities from personal experience.

1. Wheel bearings.

2. Uneven tyre wear.

On the second point I have seen tyres with a saw-tooth pattern of wear on subsequent tread blocks that is virtually invisible until the wheel is removed & checked at close quarters.

Uneven tyre wear would be my hunch too. The trailing edge of a block within the tread wears differently to the front creating a hop which causes the cyclic hum as described above.
Had it on Avon zv3s before.

[TonyRPH]

I've had a similar issue which was caused by a binding rear brake calliper.

But mine did vary according to speed, i.e. the faster I went the faster the rhythmic noise became.

[Mercury00]

It's now been into the garage, they said "it sounds like a wheel bearing but we don't know what it is" expert diagnosis there. It does seem to be getting worse, and the car is wandering a little bit. Tyres and wheels have been ruled out as I swapped them.

[Dal3D]

It can't be gearbox if engaging the clutch doesn't change the noise. So it's got to be between the wheel and gearbox? CV joint(s) knackered maybe? Or driveshaft to gearbox bearings?

[Mercury00]

I'm getting it looked at again on Saturday, so hopefully they find something then.

[Scrump]

My guess is wheel bearing

[Monkeylegend]

I had a similar issue with my last car which turned out to be feathering on the outside edges of the front tyres. I could feel it on the front edges of the tread blocks if I ran my hand over them.

It sounded just like a worn wheel bearing.

As they were non-directional I was able to switch sides so they a were running in the opposite direction and the noise disappeared.

[Mave]

Dal3D said:

It can't be gearbox if engaging the clutch doesn't change the noise. So it's got to be between the wheel and gearbox? CV joint(s) knackered maybe? Or driveshaft to gearbox bearings?

? The gearbox is still going round when the clutch is pressed

[Dal3D]

Mave said:

? The gearbox is still going round when the clutch is pressed

But I'd imagine a loaded and unloaded gearbox would sound different if a bearings at fault is what I meant.