[cr55]

Guys,
60 plate, 13 month old 320i m sport, 14k miles on the clock and have a \"dull background\" whine or drone,,,, not deafening but always there, would expect lazy stealers to say \"can\'t hear anything\" but it\'s definitely there.
Thoughts - wheel bearings ??
Any other potential faults ??
Will book it in for warranty check,, but curious as to what may be the cause,
Cheers

[belfastone]

Originally Posted by cr55

Guys,
60 plate, 13 month old 320i m sport, 14k miles on the clock and have a \"dull background\" whine or drone,,,, not deafening but always there, would expect lazy stealers to say \"can\'t hear anything\" but it\'s definitely there.
Thoughts - wheel bearings ??
Any other potential faults ??
Will book it in for warranty check,, but curious as to what may be the cause,
Cheers

Could it be coming from the steering?
Like a wine noise? Can you hear it at low revs only and also how about when idle and turning the wheel (idle)

Marty

[m1bjr]

Wife in passenger seat?

[Dr Dave]

Originally Posted by m1bjr

Wife in passenger seat?

Beat me to it.....I get the same noise

[335i E92]

Originally Posted by m1bjr

Wife in passenger seat?

[creepy coupe]

Not sure I know what a drone/whine sounds like. One or the other maybe. Does it happen in a straight line, around corners,front or back?

[cr55]

Only audible when car is in motion,, thus don't think it is linked to steering rack etc

Don't think it's CV joints either as no clicking noise on full lock,

Hence my thoughts on wheel bearings,,

When I take foot of the accelerator and free wheel "in gear" it is most noticeable ??

I am defo not imagining it !!

[Jon D]

Originally Posted by cr55

Only audible when car is in motion,, thus don't think it is linked to steering rack etc

Don't think it's CV joints either as no clicking noise on full lock,

Hence my thoughts on wheel bearings,,

When I take foot of the accelerator and free wheel "in gear" it is most noticeable ??

I am defo not imagining it !!

Being a RWD car, it doesn't have CV joints, so you can rule that out.
Does the pitch increase and decrease proportionally with road speed? If so it could be either a wheel bearing, rear or prop shaft universals or, worst case, the differential. Can you isolate it to the front or rear of the car and can you feel anything through either the steering wheel or seat?
As it's more noticeable with your foot off the accelerator, it's almost certainly not engine related.

[AlwynMike]

Originally Posted by cr55

Only audible when car is in motion,, thus don't think it is linked to steering rack etc

Don't think it's CV joints either as no clicking noise on full lock,

Hence my thoughts on wheel bearings,,

When I take foot of the accelerator and free wheel "in gear" it is most noticeable ??

I am defo not imagining it !!

"CV" joints are on the back, so lock-to-lock won't make any difference.
Wheel bearing will be noticeable from one side to another under cornering - you won't have two go at the same time at this mileage.

It may be your tyres

Manual or Auto? Is it the same in gear on the overrun and in neutral?

[creepy coupe]

Tyres would be a good place to start IMO

[SelSol]

Originally Posted by cr55

When I take foot of the accelerator and free wheel "in gear" it is most noticeable ??!

My car has had new diff (which didn't sort the noise) and now new propshaft bearings. It made a cyclic sort of "ra ra ra ra ra" noise when you're on the thottle, and when you costed to a standstill it changed and got louder to a "wo wo wo wo" gurgling noise. Also sounded like it was coming from the nearside front wheel!?!?! Very deceiving. Got worse when it was warm too.

It wasn't audible above 50mph because of road / wind noise.

[Jules6]

Originally Posted by creepy coupe

Tyres would be a good place to start IMO

+1

Check for uneven/unusual wear and correct pressures

[Golgarth]

Just had my nsf wheel bearing replaced on a 2010 car with 15.5k on the clock, the car is sooooo much quieter and, oddly, nicer to drive now.

Coopers Sunderland did the swap, mentioned the noise, they agreed and replaced, perfect service as always.

[AlanYoro35i]

Originally Posted by SelSol

My car has had new diff (which didn't sort the noise) and now new propshaft bearings. It made a cyclic sort of "ra ra ra ra ra" noise when you're on the thottle, and when you costed to a standstill it changed and got louder to a "wo wo wo wo" gurgling noise. Also sounded like it was coming from the nearside front wheel!?!?! Very deceiving. Got worse when it was warm too.

It wasn't audible above 50mph because of road / wind noise.

sounds like you have a dog inside mate!!

[SelSol]

Originally Posted by Yoro35i

sounds like you have a dog inside mate!!

Pretty much actually, like a muffled retriever.

[Statler]

Mine has a quiet drone/whirring from under the gearstick when in gear, more noticeable on quieter surfaced bitmac roads.
When I put the clutch in and freewheel it goes away. I suspect either the flywheel or release bearing but perhaps prop bearings...

Try this and see what happens between 20/30 mph

[m1bjr]

Originally Posted by cr55

Only audible when car is in motion,, thus don't think it is linked to steering rack etc

Don't think it's CV joints either as no clicking noise on full lock,

Hence my thoughts on wheel bearings,,

When I take foot of the accelerator and free wheel "in gear" it is most noticeable ??

I am defo not imagining it !!

Inner edges of tyres out of shape / edges knocked off is my guess.
Have you looked at the inside edge of the tyres?
My Passat (and most passats actually) trash inner edges on the rears like the 3ers do. It sounded like an army truck on knobbly tyres.
I was convinced it was a bearing but no, new tyres fixed it.
Steve

[Singhy1]

Sorry to bump old thread but im having exact same problems as the OP, did you manage to track the problem down mate?

[pearse9000rpm]

front wheel bearings common issue,
iv done onea mine today n/s one
the other one is shot too so its to be done aswell in next few days

[m1bjr]

Originally Posted by pearse9000rpm

front wheel bearings common issue,
iv done onea mine today n/s one
the other one is shot too so its to be done aswell in next few days

Can you extract from the hubs easily, or did you just unbolt the whole hub and replace?

TIA

Steve