My 2007 Chevy Impala makes a weird noise when I drive through puddles, it sounds like my car is vacuuming up the water and it’s really loud, any ideas of what it could be? Thanks
Was it always like this or is it something new?
Any other events to note in connection to when it started?
Tires replaced? Some repair done?
I just got the car 2 months ago and it’s been like that since then, tires are basically brand new and have had no repairs done.
I would check if wheel well protective undercovers are present and have no “unusual” holes of some sort.
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How big/deep are these “PUDDLES” ?
The last person that posted a similar problem, turned out the puddles were about 12 inches deep and 10 feet long.
Years ago some GM car - Buick? - made a strange sound while driving in rain. Turned out something in the exhaust/heat shield made a vibration, cooling rapidly when water hit it, then drying quickly from exhaust heat, repeating the cycle as long as the road was wet enough. The rapid expansion and contraction of metal created the sound. There was a TSB about it as I recall.
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Concur w/above post, good chance some sort of combination of water and exhaust system interaction. Ask shop to check for exhaust leaks, broken exhaust hangers, loose heat shields, etc.
If OP is new to car ownership and not already aware of this, suggest to slow down & go slowly through water. Besides loosing traction and sending the car careening out of control, the water can splash up from the wheels and adversely affect engine parts, sensors, etc and worse than that, if really unlucky, can be sucked into the air intake and do severe and very expensive damage to the engine internals.
On some vehicles, the water spraying off the tires and against the fender wells is more noticeable than others. I’ve noticed I hear the sound more in Toyota’s than some other makes. Not knocking Toyota, just an observation. Maybe GM cheaped our on the fenderwell liners/sound deadening material in later years. Agree with others - make sure the wheelwell liners and engine splash guards are still in place and intact.