Tire noises

A few questions. Does it seem to wobble or bump? Does the noise change when you go around a bend? Does the pitch change with the speed of the car? To me, a flat tire sounds more like a humming/roaring sound than a whine/whistle sound.

If it is wobbling or bumping, you likely need a new tire over there. A steel belt inside the tire (under the tread) has broken and the tire has developed a bump in it.

If the noise changes as you go around bends and changes with speed, and sounds more like a roaring/humming sound, then you probably need a wheel bearing -or- hub assembly. Generally, when I have a bad wheel bearing, I change the whole hub assembly. Because to me fixing a part with 187,000 miles on it to save maybe $40.00 just does not make sense.

Here is a guide on checking the tires: https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-car-tires-work - it does not include broken belt checking, but does have other potential issues in there.

Here is a YouTube video on checking for broken belts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGAIXwXGZ_g

Also, feel free to take lots of pictures and post them here. I will gladly look and see what I can see. Make sure to get good, detailed, close up shots from as many angles as you can.

Hey thanks for insight! Well the car does not have a flat tire. I checked to see if there were any visible bumps, or lumps i did not see any. The car makes the noise if you go over a bump or something. And it gets louder to me when you increase the speed. But it makes a noise when your going around a corner as well making it hard to distinguish the two. But i do not have any photos at the moment due to it being dark outside. I will do a follow up as i check a few things, such as the videos you posted.

By the way, yes it does feel as if the tires wobbling or something while driving. It to me feels at times as if the wheel may come off or something. I do not drive it because it feels unsafe. But do want to figure things out due to having work in a few days.

Willie, try mounting the spare and see if that helps any. Also, while you have the wheel off, inspect the wheel studs.

Here is a google search that I did concerning stripped wheel studs. Take a look at the images and compare them to yours when you take the wheel off. https://www.google.com/search?q=stripped+wheel+stud&client=firefox-b-1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJzJzEyfrYAhXOuFMKHduAA6MQ_AUIDCgD&biw=1366&bih=619

Keep us posted.

Hello, i actually went outside today and had not checked all the tires yesterday! And clear as day i think i may have found the corporate. But not quite understanding as to why the tire would do this! Will post what pictures and video in second.

Yeah the tread is low on that tire, which made it a little weak. When you hit the bump, it appears that was enough force to break one of the aforementioned steel belts, which made your car ride badly. To confirm, put the spare on and take it for a ride.

Hello, left a tire shop i actually saw that my lower control arm is loose. Which is causing this loud noise and uneven wear in my tires.

Oh boy you are lucky that thing did not come completely off while driving. I have been there in a mail truck. Not even a little bit fun. And very dangerous if it comes off at high speeds. Glad to hear you have a handle on it though. Just beware, the tire shop is likely going to try to sell you unnecessary work at a ridiculous price. Just have them do the bare minimum to make it safely driveable and then take it to a trusted independent mechanic and have them inspect it. They will generally give you an honest appraisal of the ball joints, control arm bushings, tie rods, and other such things.

As a general rule, I avoid Jiffy lube/quick lube places, Midas and other brake service places, tire shops, and pretty much any chains. Most of them pay their mechanics a commission for up-selling jobs. At least they do around here. I stick to my own driveway as the primary place I go to get it fixed, and one of two shops with mechanics that I have known for about twenty two years and trust with my own kid's life. I know a great deal about cars, but do not always have the time to fix it myself.

Hello writing bc ive had to replace my cv axle. Now the new cv axle broke. I literally just installed it and yes i put it in correctly. But i went to test drive my 2001 pt cruiser and it drove fine for a brief second. Then i hear a noise. And the car appears to not want to shift into gear. Reverse. Wondering why a brand new cv axle would break. It took me a few days to actually come up with a tool to take the cv shaft that goes into the tranny out. Bc it wasnt like the original cv. So no pry bar worked or anything that i did to get the first original cv out.

It broke into two pieces as in gear exposed and boot being open due to broken seal that goes around boot towards tranny side of cv shaft

Frankly, I'm not sure why that axle would break like that. Only thing I can think of is if maybe the big axle nut wasn't tight enough it could've loosened up and had too much room to wiggle around, causing it to break. But that sounds like a long shot to me. Or maybe since it was an aftermarket axle it was just not built correctly, and it broke on it's own. Again, seems like a long shot. Go ahead and start a new thread concerning the broken axle and hopefully one of the other experts will be able to chime in with their experience.

Okay thanks alot