Rob
I am experiencing tire noise on my 2005 Altima with 72,000 kilometres on it. I've been told this noise may be coming from the tires (possibly cupping) or wheel bearings. How do I tell the difference as I would hate to buy new tires and end up with the same problem.
Doug
Doug, you, like everyone else at one time or another, is faced with a conundrum like this. It may not be a tire issue but the situation is the same; how can I be sure that I won't make a costly repair mistake. This is a question that plagues consumers and repair shops alike. Trust me Doug, the shop is asking itself this same question. If it gets it right, it is a hero and is pretty much guaranteed a repeat customer - get it wrong and negative word-of-mouth advertising will go as viral as a quirky video on Youtube.
Thankfully, your situation is not rocket science. All this is going to take is an elimination process - remove the easiest possible culprit from the equation and that is your tires.
What needs to happen is a simple tire rotation. First, let's define tire cupping.
Cupping is mostly a symptom, caused by rhythmic up-and-down movement of the tire/wheel assembly and appears as worn sections of the tire tread around the circumference of the tire, with the appearance of dished out or "cupped" portions of the tread.
Cupping is caused by many things but the key to remember is that the primary cause is the rapid up-and-down movement of the tire and suspension. The first issue that comes to mind is poor wheel balance, not wheel bearings. In and of itself, this is a bad thing as the vibrations that set up can cause fatigue in many suspension parts as they try to absorb these vibrations.
Other areas of concern are:
- Poor wheel alignment
- Worn wheel bearings
- Loose suspension or steering components
- Worn out shock absorbers
Doug, in your case, the way to rule out either the tires or the wheel bearings is to rotate the tires. In addition, for the purposes of this exercise, you can fly in the face of convention and swap the tires side to side. This is not normally done because with many new tread designs, they are directional. That is, the sidewall may have an arrow indicating the forward rotation, but in this instance and for the purpose of diagnosis, you will need to swap them so the arrow is facing the wrong way (if needed). As this will only be for a short road test, there will be no damage done, but what you, or your mechanic should notice is a difference in the sound you described.
If the sound goes away, the problem is with the tires because you have forced different rolling resistances. If the sound remains, then it is possible that you have a bearing problem. However, do not rule out the other possibilities I mentioned earlier. Again, the big one is wheel balance, however you haven't mentioned that you have a noticeable vibration.
Sometimes a little outside-the-box thinking should be matched by outside-the-box doing.