Vibrating humming noise when driving

[andythepandy]

Hi all, got a bit of a head scratcher here so I thought I would throw the symptoms out to the forum to see if anyone has any ideas.

A few days ago whilst driving back from work I noticed a noise coming from the car. At first it sounded like a 125cc bike's exhaust just slightly muffled from inside the car. It wasn't until the next day when I used the car again that I realised it was coming from me!

The noise starts around 15mph and gets louder until about 70mph when it gets higher pitched. The noise sounds like a humming vibrating noise almost as if a rubber tyre with groves in it is being constantly rubbed against the edge of something hollow (very specific!). At first I thought this was the tyre tread being low (which was) but since changing the front tyres the noise persists. The noise does however disappear when I turn slightly left whilst driving. Also it sounds more like its coming from the front right of the car and when I go over humps in the road and unload the suspension the noise disappears.

I have also noticed a metallic scraping noise when on full left or right lock but I had that noise months before this one, but could be related.

In terms of work done pretty much the entire front suspension was replaced 4 months ago by me. New shocks, top mounts, wishbones, ball joints, cv boots, trackrods, pads and discs, driveshaft retaining bolt (xc90 rubber one), drop links and both front wheel bearings. The front suspension was pretty shagged so I thought I would do it in one go!

After doing some reading and little fault finding to me it either sounds like the wheel bearing or the driveshaft. I'm off for a few days now but I had a quick at the car this morning and jacked it up on the right side. The wheel moves freely with no crunching or grinding noises and I've inspected the boots which have no damage and were replaced recently.

At this point I'm thinking that it could be the front right wheel bearing but it seems less likely as it was replaced recently but the quality of some parts in recent years is shocking so it could possibly be a defective part.

What are your thoughts?

Any tests I can perform to narrow this down?

Any hep is greatly appreciated!

[Georgeandkira]

The noise disappearing when you turn to the left supports your bad bearing theory.
Does it return when you turn to the right?
Whilst you're pondering, try rotating your tires front to rear.

[andythepandy]

My thoughts too but it seems mad that after replacing them in July that one has gone bad already!

Yes it does return when I turn right. I took it out this morning briefly and it sounded very bearingy at low speeds but not so much above 40.

I'll jack the old girl up and check the rears soon as they haven't been changed so could potentially be the culprit

[John97Tdi]

I've had 3 front wheel bearings (all front) become noisy while driving in my 25 + years of Volvo ownership over 3 different cars. Neither myself or the garage has ever been able to say by rotating a lifted wheel off the ground 'this is the one'. A lack of roughness and the noise and feel of other components rotating meant the only way to be sure was to change out the suspected side at which point,in 2 of the 3 cases peace was restored.( In the 1 case the noise was 'travelling' so it was the wrong side that was changed! )

On that basis, good luck!

[CricketyJimin]

If not a bearing, maybe a broken ABS ring on a driveshaft? I've had one of those that caused a metallic scraping noise on tight steering lock. Couldn't hear it otherwise though.

[Georgeandkira]

And those cheap dust shields flex and scrape sometimes.

On my truck board the disturbing repeated truth is that only the best parts are tested. Junk parts are assembled and thrown into boxes. I would suspect "Genuine Volvo" parts would be OK if sourced through proper channels.

Faking a box and label would be the easy part.

[andythepandy]

Well it turns out, it was the wheel bearing!

Front right wheel bearing was replaced and the noise has gone away

I'm still amazed a new part failed so quickly but the old adage still rings true

'Buy cheap buy twice!'

Cheers for all the advice guys hopefully this mini thread helps someone in the future

[stuart bowes]

can I ask how you replaced your CV boots, did you disassemble the drive shaft to get them on, and is there a youtube or written guide you followed?

my passenger side one split and so far I've repaired it by glueing the narrow half of a split-boot kit to the existing wider half, it seems pretty solid and not spitting grease any more but I do want a permanent fix and ideally not one that involves replacing the shaft

[volvo again]

The easy way to replace cv boots now seems to be by using the stretch ones, easily fitted using a cone or an air powered stretcher, (more common in garage use), still means removing the driveshaft from the hub but can be fitted without taking shaft completely off the car and no need to separate the joint.
Plenty of youtube vids showing how it's done.

[stuart bowes]

ah ok I'll look into that, thanks