2009 Genesis V8 Unusual sound from the front passenger side tire

General Discussion
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Hi,
2009 Hyundai Genesis V8 at 123k miles.
I have an unusual sound coming from the front passenger side tire sometime. The noise started at around 110k miles. It sounds like as though the tire is not spinning but being dragged (but that’s not the case) on a very rough road. Or one can It only happens for a couple of seconds at a time. It happens randomly and is more likely to happen when driving uphill and making a left turn. Recently it has starting to happen more frequently and on a straight road too while going uphill.

I have checked the wheel by jacking up the car. It spins freely, does not squeak or have a play. Any insight is appreciated.

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Is the front pass side wheel hotter than the other side when this happens? If so could be a sticking caliper or bad brake hose.

The ABS light doesn’t flash when this happens does it?

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Something else to check if not already, make sure the inner fender well is not coming loose and the tire is rubbing it…

And if by chance you have staggered wheel/tires, make sure the wider ones are not on front now… I have seen them get rotated sometimes…

Just a couple things to rules out…

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It might be a bad wheel bearing.

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I would also check to see if the Backing Plate or Splash Shield has not been bent and is just about scraping the Disc Brake Rotor. Perhaps you rode over a branch or some other road debris that bent it just enough to almost scrape the Disc and when you are again on the “very rough” roads, it flexes enough to scrap, or some more road debris is picked between the plate and disc…

To get a good idea of the proper spacing, compare one side to the other side…

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A roaring sound that gets louder the faster you go is often a faulty wheel bearing. It is often very difficult to diagnose by the usual methods Often times the only way you know for sure is by replacing the suspect wheel bearing and seeing if the sound goes away. Since it occurs more when making a left turn, most likely one of the passenger side wheels, as you’ve already noted. I’d suspect thefront passenger side wheel bearing as the most likely culprit.

One counter-argument to this idea is the clue that the noise is worse when going uphill. My prior VW rabbit needed replacement front wheel bearings, both sides, but I didn’t notice any difference going uphill vs downhill or level. The only difference in the sound was the faster I went, the louder the roaring sound. Hiring a shop to replace both of the Rabbit’s front wheel bearings wasn’t a bank account breaker, relatively inexpensive. when they showed me the removed bearings, there was no doubt they were faulty.

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No, the impacted wheel does not feel hotter than the other.
No, The ABS light doesn’t flash when this happens.

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Thanks for the response. It’s all looks good and clean.

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Thanks for your response. The noise does not get worse with higher speed. Actually it doesn’t make the noise at higher speeds. The noise is loud enough that it would be audible at a high speed. I am leaning towards a bad bearing but can a bad bearing last 13k miles and keep going?

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Thanks for the response. After having checked everything to the best of my abilities that’s the only thing I can think of. Thinking of replacing the wheel hub (bearing) once the temperature cools down a bit.

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Thank for your response.

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I think a bad bearing can still allow the car to roll for more miles that that. But the noise would get worse. @Nevada_545 has posted some informative comments about his professional-mechanic experience with diagnosing bad wheel bearings. Maybe he’ll chime in. However, the fact that the noise doesn’t get louder the faster you go is not consistent with my own diy’er experience w/faulty wheel bearings.

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I wouldn’t do that on a guess. It’s not a typical way for a bad wheel bearing to present (tho I wouldn’t rule it out). I think think that you should ask a local, reputable, independent shop to check things out for you.

It also wouldn’t hurt to give a better / more literal description of the noise. Rattle? Buzz? Scrape? “tire…being dragged” is not much to go on. “Very rough road” makes me think about things like ball joints and/or sway bar bushings. That’s why I suggest having a shop check it. (E.g. if you knew how to really check front end parts you’d have more to report than jacking up and spinning the wheel).

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I got to thinking that OP’s noise might be just a small pebble has got stuck in the wheel. That would explain why the noise goes away at higher speed.

OP, if you haven’t already done so, try moving that wheel to another position. If the noise follows the wheel, you know it isn’t a faulty wheel bearing. While the wheel is off take time to carefully inspect the brakes for any debris, pebbles lodged in them too.