Tyre ? Rear bearings ? noise at low speed ?

[bobrob]

FR TDI, 18 inch rims i think, 14 months old, 10k miles, At 20-40 MPh theres a (this is difficult) thrubbing - throbbing - humming type - speed related noise coming from the back.

The tyres look fine, and i cant feel aything loose or rough with the wheels jacked up.

Anyone else heard or seen this ?

I do wonder if its just a load of tyre noise from the fat rubber, that resonates at this speed. Its not there at walking speed, but it could be a wheel bearing - but at 10k miles ?

 

[googies]

I have had thins noise but only became apparent when got new alloys, so pointing to tyre noise. will be changing tyres soon so will see then.

 

[pdh 14a]

I get this too and have 225 17" tyres,between 20-30mph i can hardly hear the stereo will be changing to different brand tyres when these run out!

 

[cardaft]

There has been quite a few thread on rumbling from rear tyres on alteas.

Have you checked the tread depth right across your rear tyres? Often when poeple have the tyres have worn strangely.

People also find Bridgestones can wear oddly, so if you have those, get them checked!

 

[googies]

I have ferenza crap that came on alloys and didnt make sense ot change them with other tyres. wearing quite well actually, probably longest had tyres on so far! But are noisy i think. 225 45 17 tyre.

 

[oldtimer]

Spin the wheel with vehicle jacked up, if it's a bearing you will hear it rumbling.

 

[googies]

Thanks oldtimer. Never thought of that. Am planning to refurb my wheels so oem ones going back on. Will know then if it tyres or bearign for definate.

 

[Jaytee]

FR TDI, 18 inch rims i think, 14 months old, 10k miles, At 20-40 MPh theres a (this is difficult) thrubbing - throbbing - humming type - speed related noise coming from the back.

The tyres look fine, and i cant feel aything loose or rough with the wheels jacked up.

Anyone else heard or seen this ?

I do wonder if its just a load of tyre noise from the fat rubber, that resonates at this speed. Its not there at walking speed, but it could be a wheel bearing - but at 10k miles ?

Having suffered exactly this problem with my Toledo, I can almost certainly tell you that it will be uneven tyre wear caused by a wheel alignmdent problem.
You will need to get a 4 wheel alignment check and adjustment carried out.
Your car probably left the factory with this fault, but don't try to get any sympathy from SEAT

John.

 

[googies]

Changed my rear discs on Wednesday. Noticed the tyres had funny wear on the inside thread section, small flat spots the whole way round on both tyres, this is making the droning noise i suspect. Any recommended course of action to get this fixed, alignment or shocks at fault?

 

[pdh 14a]

When i mentioned it to my dealer,first thing he said was alignment! And now i've properly checked,my tyres aren't even wear either

 

[googies]

Am going to go to dealer and get it checked out. due service soon so will say then about uneven tyre wear. Any more ammo i can build about cause and fixes for this.

 

[Jaytee]

Am going to go to dealer and get it checked out. due service soon so will say then about uneven tyre wear. Any more ammo i can build about cause and fixes for this.

You can prepare any ammo you like, but your dealer will tell you to get the alignment checked and SEAT will NOT take any resposiblity for the cost of this or consequential loss of tyres, even though you car, like many others it seems (mine included), must have left the factory with incorrect wheel alignment.

John.

 

[googies]

Emailed dealer bought car from, asked about service too so payment may help them in deciding to do something with it, plus they know me (yes it's been in that many times!) so fingers crossed. Been ok so far with warranty stuff, so push this one.

 

[Jaytee]

Emailed dealer bought car from, asked about service too so payment may help them in deciding to do something with it, plus they know me (yes it's been in that many times!) so fingers crossed. Been ok so far with warranty stuff, so push this one.

Well, I wish you luck!!
I also know my dealer, Watford SEAT very well, what with routine service plus a lot of warranty work (wheel bearing, cylinder head, turbo, seatbelt etc.) but still didn't get anywhere - do be fair, the dealer did try to process a claim with SEAT to no avail, then I contacted SEAT and baiscally they weren't f*cking interested!!

John.

 

[googies]

Thanks Jaytee, still worth a try i guess. Plan for worst hope for best type thing.

 

[Tell]

It's a known problem of early [not too sure how early] Altea's that the rears left the factory with the wrong set up. Obvious parties don't like to advertise this.

At my first MOT the garage took it to the MOT station and they reported "deformed rear wheels". Take that how you like. They never said that the alignment was out and the back and being out of warranty they would be rubbing their hands. Getting it reported as an MOT item was also playing into their hands for work since next year the MOT station would be looking for it given that it's all computerised and yes dosh for my dealer.

I had the emission light thingey with the blown fuse and broken throttle. That was replaced but went to another place. I mentioned the tyres and they spilled the beans on the Alteas having the back end not set up correctly and the spec being altered. They offered and gave me the Seat new spec for the allignment. Also told me where they take their cars to get it sorted, not immediately but when I was having problems finding any where local. On arriving on saturday, they said we do "loads of them for that garage". It was a design fault in early Alteas.....

So the story of the Bridgestones being liable to road noise is humbug, just since most new Alteas get Bridgestones, it isn't the tyres it's the alignment, cam at the back. "4 wheel alignment is what you want" - only some places do this, not your back street garage place. I suspect all three year old Altea and high mileage Alteas are coming down with it now like mine, until Seat change the spec, when ever that was. Is Klawit still around, he'd know .

 

[k5roc]

i've got standard wheels and Goodyear tyres and i get that noise too

glad to know its not the bearings, alignment is a lot cheaper to sort out

 

[loadswine]

I had the alignment sorted on mine through the dealer- what a rip off, nearly £200, when I had a 4 whell alignment done on my sports car done at a good tyre place a little later for £52.
Watch out for that one, they really sting you for that at the dealers.
Alignment didn't cure my rumbling at the rear though. That was fixed by replacing the awful Bridgestones with Goodyear F1s, so much better.

 

[Jaytee]

I had the alignment sorted on mine through the dealer- what a rip off, nearly £200, when I had a 4 whell alignment done on my sports car done at a good tyre place a little later for £52.
Watch out for that one, they really sting you for that at the dealers.
Alignment didn't cure my rumbling at the rear though. That was fixed by replacing the awful Bridgestones with Goodyear F1s, so much better.

Well, when my dealer (Watford SEAT) told me that SEAT would not do the alignment under warranty, they told me that they could send the car out to get it done - I said that in this circumstance, I didn't want to pay for their mark up/profit on the job and would take it direct!
To be fair they gave me details of the tyre co. who does it for them and I got charged £80 from memory, which at the time I had thought was a bit steep!! (but, maybe not!)

John.

 

[Tell]

To do the 4 wheel allignment I got charged about £27 for the front and £27 for the back. For the £200 that close to a new pair of Goodyears Loadswine. That was at Protyre which is a chain.

I'm all Goodyears now more by accident than anything else, since I had to have the fronts changed for the MOT.

Looks like the Seat garage that I found in the home counties is fair, I thought they were. Gave me good advice as well, I wouldn't have minded if my other garage had been more truthfull about the wear being related to the way the factory had set up early Alteas.

I gather your throttle valve hasn't gone yet Loadswine.... it's just a matter of time .