VW Golf MK6 SE - Tyre noise plus, in the last month to six weeks.

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Thu 23 May 2013 10:03
VW Golf MK6 SE - Tyre noise plus, in the last month to six weeks. - oldgit

Since April, I suppose, superimposed upon the usual tyre noise/road noise I have noticed or become sensitised to a sort of tone or drone coming from the rear of the car or at least that is where it can be heard, from the driver's seat.
My first suspicions were perhaps a wheel bearing but have raised each rear wheel up on the car's own scissor jack and spun the wheel and rocked it etc. but I can't detect anything unusual.
The tyres are the original fit and the car has only done 17k miles on them in four years this July. The make is Michelin Energy 205/55 R16 and so nothing outlandish. They are barely half worn, but the uncharacteristic echoing tone is getting me down, quite frankly and yesterday I got a quote for four new Michelin Primacy 3 tyres, at a cost of just over £410, with a view to at least changing the old ones to see whether this noise disappears.
To my ears the car seems more prone to noticing the differences in road surface now, more than is ever did and if the car travels over a sudden undulation, flexing the suspension, the noise is exacerbated during the deflection.

Perhaps some ear wax has dislodged itself over the weeks and can detect a noise that I hadn't heard before.

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Thu 23 May 2013 10:53
VW Golf MK6 SE - Tyre noise plus, in the last month to six weeks. - tony g
Hi,I came across something similar to this a few years ago ,the new Michelin tyres fitted to a vectra produced a high pitched hum at about 60 mph .

I replaced the tyres with pirellis and the noise disappeared .

When I researched the problem it appeared to be pitch resonance .

In effect the tyres were vibrating at a certain speed producing sound other than the sound made with normal road contact .Put simply it was a similar effect to a tuning fork .

Could that be your problem .
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Thu 23 May 2013 11:11
VW Golf MK6 SE - Tyre noise plus, in the last month to six weeks. - Oli rag

Had a similar problem myself with some Avon zv3 tyres. The noise was so bad I thought it must have been the rear wheel bearings.

Noise level restored to normal once I'd fitted a different make.

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Thu 23 May 2013 11:44
VW Golf MK6 SE - Tyre noise plus, in the last month to six weeks. - oldgit

Had a similar problem myself with some Avon zv3 tyres. The noise was so bad I thought it must have been the rear wheel bearings.

Noise level restored to normal once I'd fitted a different make.

Well I have decided to have some new tyres fitted this afternoon and so will so know whether a fool and his money are soon parted.

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Thu 23 May 2013 12:16
VW Golf MK6 SE - Tyre noise plus, in the last month to six weeks. - mustangman

I had a similar experience with tyre noise on a mk6 Golf.

The noise was a pulsating heterodyne tone at around 35 mph, audible above the usual road noise. I believe it got worse as the tyres wore down.

Fitting new tyres to the rear, in my case Toyo Proxies made the noise disappear.

Good luck with your problem.

MM

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Thu 23 May 2013 12:21
VW Golf MK6 SE - Tyre noise plus, in the last month to six weeks. - bazza

Hi Og

This is a very common problem with the later Golf/Octavia/Audi floor pan and rear suspension set up. The rear tyres wear into a saw tooth pattern on the inners, which sets up a droning/whining resonance. It sounds so much like a rear bearing that i even had one changed to no effect other than emptying my wallet. Some dealers can attempt to re-align the rear suspension , but the only cure is for a new set of tyres. it will feel and sound like a new car then,

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Thu 23 May 2013 12:49
VW Golf MK6 SE - Tyre noise plus, in the last month to six weeks. - oldgit

Hi Og

This is a very common problem with the later Golf/Octavia/Audi floor pan and rear suspension set up. The rear tyres wear into a saw tooth pattern on the inners, which sets up a droning/whining resonance. It sounds so much like a rear bearing that i even had one changed to no effect other than emptying my wallet. Some dealers can attempt to re-align the rear suspension , but the only cure is for a new set of tyres. it will feel and sound like a new car then,

That's good to know. Well if my tyres are delivered to STS early afternoon, as promised, then I shall know later if my £400+ was well spent or just the start of further investigations.

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Thu 23 May 2013 16:12
VW Golf MK6 SE - Tyre noise plus, in the last month to six weeks. - brum

As Bazza says its a common problem on this particular floorpan and is partly due to incorrect rear suspension geometry. You should consider having a rear wheel alignment check/adjustment as replacement tyres may go the same way although it seems some tyres are more susceptible to this sawtooth wear than others.

You can usually feel the sawtooth wear pattern by stroking the inside half of the tread, first in the direction of rotation, then in reverse - you will notice the leading/trailing edge of the pattern is different height.

The old tyres can be used as spares, but maybe sound ok if you swap them left <-> right as the sawtooth will face in the none noisy direction (and wear back to even)

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Thu 23 May 2013 16:32
VW Golf MK6 SE - Tyre noise plus, in the last month to six weeks. - oldgit

Well new tyres now and front and rear alignment checked and found to need adjustment. Net result car rides better and noise levels reduced but not perfect. Anyway it's tipping down with rain so cannot check tyre pressures. Have to assume that they might be over inflated a bit but will check when rain stops. Car certainly rides our beautiful road imperfections better now.

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Thu 23 May 2013 17:30
VW Golf MK6 SE - Tyre noise plus, in the last month to six weeks. - mustangman

Just as an aside, SWIMBO's Eos also developed the aforementioned noise & scuffs on the inner edges of the rear tyres. When checked by a proper set of equipment the wheel alingment was correct / within tolerance.

Perhaps VW's spec is wrong ?

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Thu 23 May 2013 18:43
VW Golf MK6 SE - Tyre noise plus, in the last month to six weeks. - 659FBE

It might be worth bearing in mind that for many models, VAG specifically recommend tyre rotation at about 10k mile intervals. This would mitigate the effects of the rear "sawtoothing" which seems to afflict many of their models, especially those with the "U beam" rear axle.

I was on the look out for this when I purchased my Superb - for which the rotation recommendation applies - but my particular car wears all 4 tyres absolutely evenly on each corner. I just interchange fronts and rears on each side when the fronts are half worn and the rears are worn out (to my acceptable limit). I suspect our friends in Cz put these cars together properly.

659.

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Wed 10 Jul 2013 09:22
VW Golf MK6 SE - Tyre noise plus, in the last month to six weeks. - gazzaman

Guys I am having this problm on my Golf. Came with OEM Hankook tyres, and I get the hum sometims as low as 20Mph. it seems to be that it is worse after motorway driving, and as people say road surfaces make it worse. It only truly disappears on a perfectly smooth surface.

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Wed 10 Jul 2013 09:33
VW Golf MK6 SE - Tyre noise plus, in the last month to six weeks. - oldgit

Guys I am having this problm on my Golf. Came with OEM Hankook tyres, and I get the hum sometims as low as 20Mph. it seems to be that it is worse after motorway driving, and as people say road surfaces make it worse. It only truly disappears on a perfectly smooth surface.

I have accepted mine now and have the radio on all the time. I still think extra noise is there which once was not the case but C'est la vie.

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Thu 1 Aug 2013 19:16
VW Golf MK6 SE - Tyre noise plus, in the last month to six weeks. - gazzaman
It sounds to me like it's the bearing then, of you have charged the tyres. I have had my tyres rotated and got the same thing in the same place. I am trying to find a garage that has an electronic stethoscope, so they an listed for it whist driving.
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