Tire Drone?
 

For some time now, I have noticed a bit of a drone while driving. I still have the stock Michelin tires. It is either related to the tires or a wheel bearing, and has gotten loud enough that I want to fix it.

From what I can tell, the stock tires are not directional. But when you look at them there is actually a difference in tread by direction. One of the tires is completely backwards to the others.

Anyone else have a similar experience or can shed some light?
I will head to the dealer when I get some time.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was just the low roll resistant tire. As someone who has had a wheel bearing go out in a car before (Honda accord), it is quite obvious (very strong vibrations, and in my case, I could tell what side of the car had the bad bearing).

Does it make the noise on all pavement types? Can you pinpoint the vibration?

To check the bearing, I jacked up the car and spun the wheel. It spun for days like there was no resistance and could hear the bearings whir. I'm sure you can only do this to the non-drive wheels.

Good luck.

How many k's or miles have the tyres done ? Tread wear & shape usually make them noisier, depending on tread pattern & driving style. The stock tyres are not an aggressive pattern.

A telltale sign of bad bearings is if the noise is louder as you put more load on it, especially during cornering. Plus, bad wheel bearings are more of a grinding sound than a drone.

Drone sounds are usually just the tires. Only way to isolate it is to drive on completely different road surfaces at the same speeds to replicate.

-alex

Great points!
I will probably jack up the car and spin to see what the bearings sound like. But I agree that this is probably not the issue.

I have 18,000 miles on the tires. Plenty of tread, and the car is a daily driver, and I am a relaxed driver, I don't take every corner as fast as possible.

The drone is on all pavement types. I just went on a long stretch where it is freshly paved and perfectly smooth, and coasting down the hill in neutral is disappointing. Kind of a warble, instead of constant drone. Like when your buddy does eBrake slides and has a flat spot on his tires that thunks as he drives.

When is the last time you had an alignment?

Alignment or just heavy wear on some tires causes loud noise.

I just swapped in a new set of RS3s when they hit 4/32nds and it sounded like all my wheel bearings were bad. The tire noise was so loud you could barely talk.

Sounds like it might be the tires getting hard from the wear and heat cycles..
They transmit more noise as they age..

That sounds like slightly uneven tire wear, possibly from bad alignment as others have stated.

Even if it's slightly off, when the tires are worn the sounds get progressively worse.

-alex

Coming from my dead-silent BMW 135i, to my BRZ, the stock tires definitely have a slight drone to them.

The BRZ/FRS are not very quiet inside and definitely transmit road noises into the cabin.

My car quieted up when I went to the Michelin PSS tires, but I can still hear the tires rolling.