left front nois

[DonB]

I am getting a noise from the driver's front end. If it was higher pitched I would call it a chirp but it is lower pitched so I guess you would call it a rumble. We can start to hear it at about 45 mph and it seems to get the loudest at around 55 or 60 mphIt's not real loud, in fact if there is a lot of wind noise or I am on a rough road it's hard to hear, we can hear it the best when we are on smooth blacktop. My wife and I both agree that when we take a right hand curve it seems to get louder, and on a left hand curve it seems to quiet down. If we are on a road that has some dips in it the noise seems to quiet down when the weight is off the front end. Which would also explain the left and right curves.I have had the car in once and they did replace the left front tire. They said it had a flat spot on the inside edge of the tread. There might have been mor then one problem because it did seem to quiet it down some.I am begining to wonder if there might be a problem in one of the CV joints.Don

[drummerdude]

check the torque specs on the lugs and also chack and make sure the strut is tightened down on the strut tower... beyond that i don't know maybe someone else has some insite... calling MadBill

[OutLaW]

Sounds like a wheel bearing to me. Not sure tho. When under load it gets quite. High speeds make it louder. If it was a cv joint or half shaft you would ussually feel a shakin around 35mph or higher. How many miles on your car?

[DonB]

I thought about it being a wheel bearing myself, but the service manager said they couldn't feel any play in the wheel bearing and it felt smooth when they rotated the tire.I told him I did maintenance work for over thirty years and had seen many bearings that felt smooth when you rotated them by hand, but were noisy when you ran them at a higher speed. I think it went over his head.To answer your question it has 19000 miles on it.

[MadBill]

I'm with OutLaW on this one. Wheel bearing, though rare at such low mileage, is by far the most likely, no mater how smooth it feels when spun by hand.

[joatmon]

you could probably rule out another tire problem by rotating it with the back. If you can demonstrate the noise to the dealer, and it's not the tire, then it seems like they would have to diagnose and correct the problem under the warranty. 19K miles is awful early to have wheel bearing or CV probs.

[OutLaW]

The wheel bearing don't have to have play in it to be bad. Most of the times they just make squeeling noises. They have play in them when you turn the radio up instead of getting it repaired. lol. Joking aside, You should get a second opinion about the wheel bearing. Those aren't good thing to ignore. That is the stuff that really gets me mad! We buy cars worth more than most peoples jobs per year. You take it to a dealer(cuz it's under a warranty) and they blow you off. Cuz they are affraid it will cost them time and money. Well what about the person that just payed $20,000+ for a car!! grrrr. lol, sorry guys had to vent.. One more thing.The wheel bearing might not have had enought grease in it when it left the factory. If thats's the case, the noise your hearing is dry metal on metal. Might not be completely dry but enough to make noise.

[DonB]

Quote, originally posted by OutLaW »The wheel bearing don't have to have play in it to be bad. Most of the times they just make squeeling noises. They have play in them when you turn the radio up instead of getting it repaired. lol. Joking aside, You should get a second opinion about the wheel bearing. Those aren't good thing to ignore. That is the stuff that really gets me mad! We buy cars worth more than most peoples jobs per year. You take it to a dealer(cuz it's under a warranty) and they blow you off. Cuz they are affraid it will cost them time and money. Well what about the person that just payed $20,000+ for a car!! grrrr. lol, sorry guys had to vent.. One more thing.The wheel bearing might not have had enought grease in it when it left the factory. If thats's the case, the noise your hearing is dry metal on metal. Might not be completely dry but enough to make noise. This dealer has been good in the past but it just seems the service manager has a certain way of doing things.I also bought a Chevy Impala from this dealer which had a clunk when the steering wheel was turned to the left. GM was supposed to have a fix for the problem which didn't work, but he did keep after it and about $3000.00 worth of parts later they did find the problem.The part that suprises me about the Vibe is the fact the dealer is standing behind the tires, every other car I've bought from other dealers I was told if you had tire problems it was between you and the tire dealer. Another thing I'm not to sure I like the Continental brand tires that's on the car, I haven't heard too many good things about them.

[OutLaW]

Continental tires aren't bad tires. Infact they are one of the better tires on the market. Just think they are sending GM the "no so top of the line tires". They are smooth ,very low noise and get alot of miles out of them. If they wanna replace everything around the problem first, that 's ok. Sounds like a good deal to me. As long as they do fix the problem eventually.. (removed)...

[DonB]

Update on the noise in the front end of the Vibe. My dealer is going to replace the Continental tires with a set of Goodyear Eagle RSA tires tomorrow morning. I'll let the group know how I make out with the noise.

[Mr. Poopypants]

Check your alignment if is sounds almost like a low pitch throbbing noise. I had the same thing from all these friggin potholes around here.

[DonB]

Update on the tire replacement. The dealer replaced the Continental tires with the set of Goodyear Eagle RSAs. End of problem, the car rolls down the road as quiet as can be.

[OutLaW]

Cool, glad you got it fixed..