[mayhs]

So I've got a 2006 E90 330D and recently it started making a loud rumbling noise at motorway speed. The noise is proportional to speed but has started to become more obvious at slower speeds now ~40mph.

Initial thoughts are the passenger side rear wheel bearing has gone. So I jacked up that corner and tried to rotate the wheel (hand brake off, car in neutral) however the wheel was really difficult to rotate. No way that it would spin freely.

Is this normal? I'm guessing that I'm rotating the diff as the other wheel was in contact with the road but should it be that tough?

I did the same with the driver side rear and that was still difficult to turn but not as bad as the passenger side?

There was no play in either wheel and I changed the rear tyres too and the noise persists.

[Dormermike]

yes you should be able to turn either rear wheel easily if they are both off the ground.

[Daviebrown]

It sounds like both rear brake calipers are siezed to different degrees, take it for a drive then stop it on the road and check both sides for signs of overheating. This problem will generate a rumbling noise when hot.

[mayhs]

Originally Posted by Dormermike

yes you should be able to turn either rear wheel easily if they are both off the ground.

I was only able to jack one wheel at a time. So when turning one rear by hand, the other rear was stationary and in contact with the road.

I've also checked for sticky calipers, after a long drive the brake disc hub is warm but not hot at all. No excessive heat coming from the brakes either.

[Dormermike]

if its an auto with only one wheel off the ground you wont be able to turn the wheel far unless youve got it out of park.

[mayhs]

Originally Posted by Dormermike

if its an auto with only one wheel off the ground you wont be able to turn the wheel far unless youve got it out of park.

Yeah it's an auto but I chocked the front wheels and had the car in neutral with the hand brake off.

[MrSweet1991]

Can you do a video? Realistically for situations like this you either want a video with the sound of the issue clear or put the rear on Axle stands and let the wheels spin. I've had to do this a couple of times to locate certain noises (one being driveshaft and the other being Propshaft)

[Phil325i]

So what was the cause of the ticking on this vid MrSweet?

[therealdb1]

Does your car have an LSD fitted?
That would slow the spinning wheel down.

[MrSweet1991]

Originally Posted by Phil325i

So what was the cause of the ticking on this vid MrSweet?

Driveshaft mate, when I was replacing the rear subframe I left the driveshafts connected to the differential and inside the CV joint i must have broke the circlip or what ever keeps the cj joint in place and the cv joint moved outwards towards the wheel. I did knock the cv joint back into place but once I put everything back together it separated again so the driveshaft would spin but not move the cv joint/wheel.

Rookie mistake as its never a good thing to let the driveshaft hang off the Diff but thankfully I had a spare driveshaft in the shed for that side believe it or not. A good sand and paint and it's still functioning perfect

[MrSweet1991]

Originally Posted by therealdb1

Does your car have an LSD fitted?
That would slow the spinning wheel down.

When I was diagnosing my car for the ticking noise I couldn't really give it much of a spin to honest so. I can imagine it would have been he same. For the OP, that's why I ended up running it on Axle stands. Works much better but man every time I took the handbrake off I always got a sensation that the car was tipping forward

[IllSic_Design]

If you put it in neutral it should spin fairly easily no matter if the other wheel is on the ground or not. I'd def check out the bearing and also the axle shafts. It's most likely the wheel bearings, I just changed out both of mine not too long ago, the pass side was shot.

[mayhs]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Will try and get the car up on axel stands this weekend and give it another go but from the sounds of things the wheel bearing is on its way out anyways so just need to see how much it costs to change at a indy.

[rasa bmw]

could be handbrake also,,they are shite on these cars..shoes inside disc etc

[spudulike]

Originally Posted by rasa bmw

could be handbrake also,,they are shite on these cars..shoes inside disc etc

Better than I had on my Civic Type R!
Cable-actuated rear caliper that just pulled the pads onto the discs. After a good drive with nice hot discs, you'd pull the handbrake nice and tight. Then the discs cooled and retracted from the pads.
My mate's drive was a steep slope...I ended up retrieving my car from his neighbours garden after it'd gently rolled downhill and come to a rest against a low wall.

Oh and my Golf GTi. Turns out VW calipers only have 80,000 miles in them before they just seize. £600 to a friendly garage to get those sorted.

And as for my Alfa Brera...well it was an Alfa so

[ro881e]

You can't ever truly freespin a rear wheel because of diff resistance etc. I had suspicions of rear bearing failure for ages but never got a loud rumble or wheel wobble etc. Plus hand spinning was almost the same before and after bearing change. Easiest way to finally diagnose was to take some long sweeping corners in each direction (big roundabout?) And if it's louder in one direction, bearing is shagged. If it's the exhaust side, it's way more difficult to replace too...