Weird sound at low speed

[alexcl]

Hey all,

I've recently bought a brand new Seat Ibiza and I'm facing a weird issue. After reaching about 1.100 km, the car has started to make a whining (resonating?) sound, something like a woooo with variable intensity. The sound appears at low speeds, generally when I put the car into first gear and start driving slowly, when I reach 20-25 km/h the sound goes away. I also noticed the sound last night, when I was going down an inclined road and put the gear to neutral, at every wheel rotation I would hear a woooh, woooh, woooh (so I'm guessing it's not a clutch issue). One time when the sound occurred with a bit higher intensity I also got a resonance in the steering wheel.

Here's what I've tested so far:

- the sound only appears when the car is already warmed up
- the sound appears randomly, for example I drove two days without any issues, then on the third day it shows up, the next day everything is fine
- pressing / lifting the clutch has no influence on the noise
- sound does not occur while stationed with the engine on and turning the wheels in either direction
- sound does not occur when rear parking
- sound does not occur in higher gears
- other than this the car is running perfectly, no vibrations or other sounds out of the ordinary, steering works perfectly, no vibration at high speed (120-130 km/h)

The car is covered by warranty, but before going to the dealer I want to know if anyone has any idea what it could be.

Thank you!

 

[José Silva]

In resume it only makes noise in slow speed? Can it be the wheel bearing?

 

[alexcl]

Hi José, yes, only in low speeds. It's not impossible, though I would not expect it from a new car with only 1.300 km driven. I've had broken wheel bearings on my old car, and the noise was constant, at any speed, not like the current situation. I'm not ruling it out though.

 

[José Silva]

Everything its possible it can be a defective part.

 

[Krafty_Bizkit]

Could be the backing plate for the front discs (dust guards). When I had some work done at a body shop once I had this issue after picking the car up, the plate had bent slightly causing it to rub slightly on the disc (that was caused by one of the techs knocking it but it can also happen from a loose stone hitting it etc). All I had to do was slightly bend the plate back away from the disc a little. Something worth checking that could be a free fix

 

[alexcl]

Thanks for the tip Krafty_Bizkit, I'll definitely check it out.

 

[kwlw]

Thanks for the tip Krafty_Bizkit, I'll definitely check it out.

Yeah, I had this issue on quite a few cars, including yellow one in avatar. It usually happens after wheel change or driving through deep puddle. Cleanest way to diagnose is to slightly touch the brake pedal when the noise is heard. If it changes in pitch or volume, then dust guards are suspect #1 . Then, depending on the wheels you have on the car, you can try to fix it with China food wooden eating stick. I don't recommend to use screwdriver there because I don't like to scratch the paint on guards.

 

[alexcl]

Hey guys, I managed to record the sound: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VJMTZX5ixnLYyU1E3AwuZ9Ibi3WBOoF-/view
Krafty_Bizkit, kwlw, does it resemble the sounds you had?
Thanks!

 

[kwlw]

Yep, that's the one (brake shield touching the disk).

By the way my fakeracing also developed some humming sound yesterday. At almost exactly at 10k km mark. Which actually sounds like faulty wheel bearing. Fate it seems is not without the sense of irony...

 

[alexcl]

kwlw I assume that as the disk heats up it expands and touches the shield, because there is no sound when the car is cold. I've especially noticed the sound when I'm in heavy traffic, where a lot of braking and starting occur. Weird though that I can only hear it at low speed, after 20mph it disappears. I'll take a look at the shields.

Sorry to hear you're having issues as well, hope you get it fixed Thanks again for your support!