Constant flapping sound from rear wheel side?

[djmm]

I just noticed this new sound today, it's like the wheel or whatever has something stuck on it and it keeps hitting against something as the wheel turn.
Sound is only heard when window is down in a quiet place like private parking. As I drive faster the frequency of the flapping sound increases. So it must have something to do with the rotation somewhere.

I checked all the wheels but couldn't find anything stuck on it. I wonder what it is...

[blue cat]

That's weird I experienced exactly the same today, didn't notice anything from a quick visual inspection

[Tcoat]

Had that last week. Turned out I had a big chunk of concrete stuck in the tread of my tire (no puncture just stuck). Sounded all the world like a wet rag hitting the road when I drove. Pulled it out and noise went away.

[EAGLE5]

Get on your knees, boy!

And inspect that tire.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by jsimon7777

Get on your knees, boy!

And inspect that tire.

Oh believe me I was and it barely even marked the rubber! Had a piece of deer bone up in one once. The piece showing on the outside was about the size of a dime. The piece inside the tire was the size of a quarter and 4 inches long!

[EAGLE5]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Oh believe me I was and it barely even marked the rubber! Had a piece of deer bone up in one once. The piece showing on the outside was about the size of a dime. The piece inside the tire was the size of a quarter and 4 inches long!

Geeze, you Canadians and your deer bones. "Oh, I was looking at the maple trees when a Mountie passed me by. I was distracted by his enormous hat and the Justin Bieber song I was listening to so I didn't see the moose and the reindeer on the road until it was too late. How aboot that, eh?"

Actually, I have lots of deer where I live, and I'm in California.

[Tcoat]

Actually where I live in Canada we have 27 whole or part States north of us. I am even south of a small part of California!
Have spent my whole life and never ever seen a Mountie in person.
As much as you may want to deny it Bieber is now YOURS and we do thank you for that!!!!!!
Never pronounced it aboot and really have the same accent as about 95% of the people on TV. You did NAIL IT with the eh thing though.


Ya the deer get spread across the highway in little bits no matter where you live in North America I think. They really should use the "deer crossing" signed areas to cross safely.

[TJ3000]

Dude it's the passenger seat belt buckle hitting the pillar. D'oh!

[djmm]

Originally Posted by TJ3000

Dude it's the passenger seat belt buckle hitting the pillar. D'oh!

What? That doesn't make sense how can seat buckle make noise on a uniform pattern like tyre rotation?

Speaking of things getting stuck, I did remove a small stone around an inch or less which was stuck between the tire groove but I haven't tested driving it since then. But I doubt small stone can make a noise like that?

[TOMIMOTO]

If there isn't anything on the tire it could be the wheel bearing going out.

It's very common for Subaru wheel bearing to fail prematurely.

[Foobar]

Had something similar happen a while ago, checked the tire and wheel and nothing out of the ordinary. Eventually found the culprit, a twig stuck in the fender towards the inside of the tire that was brushing up against the tire treads.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[djmm]

Hey I just took it for a drive and the sound disappeared. So looks like it was that small pebble after all. How come it made such noticeable noise.

[Tcoat]

Doesn't take much of a noise to be amplified in the wheel well and the lack of noise reduction materials doesn't help. Glad that was all it was. I was a little freaked out when it happened to me as the first thing through my mind was wheel bearing!