Mk 1 Focus strange rumbling noise

[AndyT77]

Just noticed a strange rumbling noise coming from the front of my 2004 Focus. I assume the wheel bearings are on the way out?

A few days ago i swapped the front and back wheels due to tyre wear, this wouldn't have caused any issues would it? I don't have a torque wrench, so had to retighten the wheel nuts as tight as i could with the wheel brace.

[mk2 24v]

you may find the wheels that were on the back have got unevenly worn tyres on them, and moving them to the front has highlighted this

does the noise get worse or stay the same when cornering?

[AndyT77]

Not noticed any difference when cornering, but considering your comment, i recall that the rear tyres were evenly worn, but the front ones (now on the back), were worn slightly more on the inner edges.

[pstruck]

Had this recently on the wife's Mk1 Focus. The garage diagnosed a dodgy wheel bearing at service time, so replaced it. The noise persisted. They replaced another. Noise persisted. They replaced a third. Noise persisted.

Turned out to be uneven tyre wear causing it. We challenged the garage about their diagnosis and the bill for three wheel bearings and ended up paying for just one, which was on its way out.

Definitely one to watch out for.