Back tires making noise?

XOFHOX

MEMBER
1998 MERCURY MYSTIQUE
52,000 MILES

Back tires making noise?
I just had my tires rotated yesterday and then my flex unit and sway bar replaced today. They did not see any problems with the car when they were looking over it other than those and they are now fixed but ever since my tires were rotated my back tires seem to be making a slight woo-woo-woo sound (if that makes sense) it's not driving bad and it does not feel off, but I'm not sure what this is, it stops when I'm stopped. The car is a 98 mystique with 52,000 miles on it. What could this be? I'm driving back home from school(800miles, my dad will be with me, and I have triple a) in less than two weeks and have little to no time to have my car looked at again since they have seen it twice in the last 24 hours, and today they did not say anything about anything else being broken

2 Replies

WRENCHTECH

MECHANIC
20,761 POSTS

It's not uncommon for tires that have irregular wear to make noise after rotation although it's usually the front ones that came from the rear and now have the weight of the engine on them.

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Thursday, April 14th, 2011 AT 8:58 PM

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,916 POSTS

Ford is famous for building cars that can't have two of the three important alignment angles adjusted on the front so there is always some abnormal tire wear. When the tires are rotated, the wear patterns can often be heard when those tires are on the rear because there is much less weight holding the tires flat on the road. Over time some tires will wear flat and the noise will slowly go away. In some instances the wear accelerates but typically the noise goes away. The wear patterns are causing the tire tread to squirm each time it hits the road. That squirming is what can cause the wear to continue.

The idea behind rotating tires is to equalize tire wear so all four wear out at the same rate. That means you buy four new tires at once.

I personally never rotate my tires but all of my vehicles can be adjusted for good tire wear. Being front-wheel-drive cars and minivans, the front tires wear out faster, so I replace the front pair about three times as often as the rear tires.