bad tyre noise from the rear.

[mck684 0]

hi all,

i own a golf mk3 vr6. when i bought the car it unfortunately had odd tyre brands on the back. one side is continental eco contact and one side is avon az1, the fronts are matching dunners sport sp1. all the tyres are almost brand new.

there is a pronounced whining noise coming from the rear wheels that rises and falls depending on how fast that you go. im pretty certain that it is a mishapen tyre as i had the exact same problem on my old mk3 gti 8v. as soon as i replaced the rear tyres the noise dissapeared! its definately the same noise so im guessing its the same problem.

im wondering has anyone else got the same problem with the 'whining tyres' (most obvious at 50mph). it seems to much of a coincedence that both my mk3s have had whining rear tyres!!!

maybe its a problem throughout all mk3 golfs? maybe something in the wheel alignment buggers up the tyres? any opinions would be appreciated.

cheers,

ian.

[Guest Nero1701]

dunno, im usually still in 2nd at 50 mph contemplating 3rd, but have'nt had tyre whine? sure its your tyres and not your dif?

[legvw 0]

Could be a wheel bearing?

[mck684 0]

no its definately tyre noise. i did originally take it to a gararge for wheel bearing noise but it wasnt that. its exactly the same noise as i had before when the new tyres fixed the problem. just wondering if anyone else had the problem?

[Knightrider 1]

Presume you have the skinny spare? Try fitting that first one side then the other to see if the noise disappears. I doubt the spare will whine, so that might help you diagnose whether it actually IS a tyre and which tyre it is.

Or find someone nearby with a spare set of wheels and tyres - I've got some but I'm too far away (nr Gatwick) - and lob those on it to see what happens (and/or put your rears on theirs).

I've had misshapen tyres a couple of times on old Pug 205s that I ran for my kids. It felt like all the weights had fallen off, didn't whine. If you stick them on a wheel balancing machine, you should be able to see immediately if they are misshapen.

[mck684 0]

hi, yeah i have the space saver spare. i think i will try that at the weekend. the wheels dont feel unbalanced, they dont judder or anything. its just the noise like a wheel bearing but im so convinced its the tyres as i had the exact same problem on my gti (exactly the same noise) and i just thought it was to much of a coincidence that its on same type of car, on the back wheels again. was trying to get a load of people with this problem so we can all take our 15 year old vr6's back to vw and complain that its the cars wheel alignment or something!!!! |-)

[Knightrider 1]

I had a front wheel bearing go in April - it went from just hear it to horrendous noise very quickly. Funnily enough, garage said "are you sure it is not the tyres"! Yeah, dead sure!! Ended up changing both as couldn't tell which it was and did nearside first and turned out it was offside. Also had rear discs and pads in April as they were knackered and they did the rear bearings at the same time (they fit inside the disc) - the bearings are only about £12.00 each. Quite easy to do if you've or buy the tool to wind the piston back.

[mck684 0]

well ive found out what the problem was. just as i suspected it was one of the tyres.

first i took of one of the rear wheels and put on the spare, drove it down the road. no difference.

took of the other rear wheel and put on the spare. drove it down the road and hey presto the noise has gone! it turns out that the nearside AVON tyre is misshapen and making the whining noise. it also turns out that both the rear tyres have nails in them! needless to say they are both getting replaced with dunlop sport sp01 to match the front.

problem solved! thanks for all the posts on this topic.