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#1
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Tire noise or Bearing?
If this is total stupid let me know, but when I first picked up my new (to me ) SVX a few weeks ago I was sure that the noise from the rear was my bearings going bad. After reading here for a while I'm wondering if it might the the Eagle II M&S's that are on it... Is there a way to tell bearing noise from tire slap? other that removing the tires or the bearing? There is no play in the rear wheel when off the ground. Thanks
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Mitch Hansen
"uncamitzi" This is a Dark Ride 92 Teal SVX LS-L 128K tranny swap with 4.11's Well.. my days of not taking you seriously have certainly come to a middle . |
#2
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Two pointers
Mitch
Not a silly question at all. Two indicators for you. Tyre noise tends to have the same pitch all the time. Bearing noise will get louder with speed, and worse. A good indicator is a change of surface. If you can find a real smooth surface, steel plate, anything that smooth, the tyre noise goes away, but bearing noise must remain. Last, [this is three, I know ] get your wife or someone to drive the car. You sit in the back with the seat-back released. As you get up to speed, put your head in the boot[trunk] and listen. If it is bearing noise, not only will you be able to hear it, you will be able to tell which one. Last is probably best test to be sure to be sure as we say in Ireland. Joe
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Black Betty [Bam a Lam!] '93 UK spec, still languishing Betty Jersey Girl Silver '92 UK [Channel Isles] 40K Jersey Girl @ Mersea Candy Purple Honda Blackbird Plum Dangerous White X2 RVR Mitsubishi 1800GDI. Vantastic 40,000 miles Jersey Girl |
#3
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Mitch, I had the same question, since my '92 had Eagle IIs on it when I got it. I had some hopes that it was just tire noise because when I drove over a short patch of really smooth pavement the noise seemed to go away (but it was such a short patch I was never sure).
Got new tires and the noise vanished. I think the Eagles are most of the problem, though it's always possible they're just masking the bearing noise. Joe's suggestion should help you narrow it down. Good luck with it. BTW, it snowed TWICE here in Santa Fe yesterday. < of course it's all melted now, but still . . . >
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Dick ************** 1999 Legacy GT 30th Anniversary Edition 2001 Outback Sport |
#4
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Yeah, the key is to find find a piece of road where there is a transition from new asphalt (not chipseal) to older asphalt or vise versa. If its the tires, noise will decrease substantially on the smooth asphalt.
Joe mentioned that tire noise is fairly constant irrespective of speed, but in my experience, this is not the case. My Dunlop SP5000's do make more noise as the car gets moving faster. Lastly, the noise that my tires make is much different than the noise the wheel bearings made. The wheel bearings made a very distinctive droning sound that varied in pitch as a wheel went through a single revolution. It was also much much louder than my tires. I didn't even know I had loud tires until I replaced the wheel bearings. :-) And the wheel bearings made tons of noise even at low speeds. 10 mph was enough to get them droning.
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Mychailo :: 2006 Silver Mitsubishi Evolution 9, E85, 34 psi peak, 425wtq/505whp DJ :: 1995 Laguna Blue SVX L AWD 5MT (sold) Visit my locker SVX Mods: ND iridium spark plugs, Impreza RS fpr, afr tuned to 13.2:1 using a custom MAF bypass, custom exhaust, WRX 5MT w/ STi RA 1st-4th gear & stock WRX 5th gear, Exedy 13 lb flywheel & Sport Clutch, STi Group N tranny & engine mounts, urethane spacers in rear subframe, rear diff mounts, and pitch stopper, SVX Sport Strut Springs (185f/150r), custom 19 mm rear swaybar, urethane swaybar mounts, Rota Torque 17x8", 225/45-17 Proxes 4 tires, Axxis Deluxe Plus organic brake pads. |
#5
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Interestingly enough, I've had bearings go out on the Right and Left rear sides. They made different noises. When the RR went out, there was a distinctive "drone," while the LR made more of a "wah wah" sound (of course, it could've been my proximity to the bearing that caused the varied sound). I discounted the LR bearing as tire noise for as long as I could, but, as it became louder, it became apparant. The crazy thing is, it was making the noise all the way back from New York (when I drove the car home). I'm surprised at the resiliance of these bearings. I'd put almost 10K on the car before it was loud enough for me to take it seriously.
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Randy Johnson 3rd Registered Member 02-21-2001 First Member to Reach 10,000 Posts First to arrive at the very first Reading Meet Subaru Ambassador 1992 SVX PPG Pace Car Replica 110+k 1993 White Impreza L 240+K miles 2001 Legacy Outback Limited Sedan 250+K miles 2013 Deep Indigo Pearl Legacy 3.6R 49+K miles "Reading is my favorite Holiday" Mike Davis -- at Reading VI |
#6
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I can beat that.
Quote:
I did 17000 miles the first year, and after another 8 months the bearing got to be unbearable [Don, you out there??] I reckon that means I put 28-30 K miles on the bad bearing. It got to CanAm noisy as your Megan was over here. When I could no longer hear the radio, I fixed it. So yeah, I reckon they are resilient. They could collapse, of course, so not a good idea to ignore completely. However, racing off to the shop when you hear a noise is not necessary either. Joe
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Black Betty [Bam a Lam!] '93 UK spec, still languishing Betty Jersey Girl Silver '92 UK [Channel Isles] 40K Jersey Girl @ Mersea Candy Purple Honda Blackbird Plum Dangerous White X2 RVR Mitsubishi 1800GDI. Vantastic 40,000 miles Jersey Girl |
#7
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Quote:
We are still waiting for the scarcest snow on Earth... Thanks to every one... maybe when it does finally snow here I will have a surface that I can trust with the sound... it seems to stay constant on any surface and increases pitch with speed...(which it will do if it's the bearings or the tires I think) So... I'm still thinking bearings.... Couldn't hurt to have them replaced anyway could it?
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Mitch Hansen
"uncamitzi" This is a Dark Ride 92 Teal SVX LS-L 128K tranny swap with 4.11's Well.. my days of not taking you seriously have certainly come to a middle . |
#8
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If you're close to needing tires you might want to consider replacing them first. Bearings end up at about $250 per wheel installed, at least around here.
I think the Eagles get noisier as they wear. I got it! Try taking the rear wheels off, then drive around and see if it makes the same noise!!
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Dick ************** 1999 Legacy GT 30th Anniversary Edition 2001 Outback Sport |
#9
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A friend of mine bought a SVX a couple of months ago. When he test drove it, I thought it has bad bearings!!! They moved the tires front to back and the noise changed. We made a second trip to the car with another set of wheels and tires that I had, and the noise went away. We knew that it was the tires then. Good luck.
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#10
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It could be both tires and bearings.
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#11
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Quote:
Turned out, my tires were just cupped since they were off balance. I had them rotated and balanced and they told me the tires would wear down evenly after a few thousand miles and the noise would go away (or at least lessen). --Dan |
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