'07 Calais Front Wheel Noise

[adclawrence]

Hi everyone,

A couple of days ago I bought my first Commodore, a 2007 Calais 3.6 with 116,000 on the clock and I'm pretty stoked with it! Drives beautifully and is such a smooth and powerful beast compared to the '03 Astra 1.8 it replaced.

But I've noticed with the Calais a strange noise coming from the front left hand side wheel; a sort of humming/vibration noise but only between 55-65km/h and 75-85km/h. I shifted into neutral to see if its gearbox related or an engine noise but that makes no difference. Just happens when the car is going at those speeds.

Any ideas? I bought this car private and apart from that noise it drives very well.
Cheers guys.

 

[greenacc]

Possibly a wheel bearing but that's only a wild guess based on your description.
Does the noise come and go when turning left and right?
Check the wheel nuts aren't loose too!

 

[adclawrence]

Possibly a wheel bearing but that's only a wild guess based on your description.
Does the noise come and go when turning left and right?
Check the wheel nuts aren't loose too!

I'll have a look at the wheel in the morning and check that everything is done up right.

If I'm going 60 and the noise is present, swerving left and right makes no difference.

 

[greenacc]

Ok that's different. Run your hand around the tyre tread, is it smooth or worn unevenly and jagged ? That would mean poor alignment, worn suspension but your noise doesn't quite fit.
Jack it up and shake the wheel top - bottom and left-right and check for play.

 

[adclawrence]

An update:

Noise is still here, seems to be getting worse. I've rotated my wheels and unfortunately there's no change. Coasting at 60 will make the whole car hum and buzz quite badly and touching the throttle changes the noise to a quieter hum, as does braking.

Could anything else be at fault here? I'm thinking maybe driveshaft. Would a driveshaft coupling cause this issue?

Edit: rain and wet roads seem to quieten the noise. Weird.

Hopefully it's one of those if I ignore it, it'll go away things.

 

[h8tensv6]

Do you know anyone you can borrow 2 rims with tyres from to see if it's not the tyres making the noise. Wife's car had some cheap crap brand of tyres when she got it and they sounded noisey like four wheel drive tyres sometimes sound. When they were worn out we put better Bridgestone tyres on it and it was heaps quieter. It's better if you can borrow some wheels to try before you go out and spend money on new tyres. Just my 2 cents worth from what happened to us.

 

[adimw]

Do you know anyone you can borrow 2 rims with tyres from to see if it's not the tyres making the noise. Wife's car had some cheap crap brand of tyres when she got it and they sounded noisey like four wheel drive tyres sometimes sound. When they were worn out we put better Bridgestone tyres on it and it was heaps quieter. It's better if you can borrow some wheels to try before you go out and spend money on new tyres. Just my 2 cents worth from what happened to us.

alternately find some ex police 16" steelies - I picked some up with great tyres for $75 (for four)