Our 2003 Toyota RAV4 has this pulsating noise when we drive it. There is no shaking when braking. It is extremely annoying. I was told it was the tires and I bought brand new tires. The noise is still there. So I took it to several mechanics and when they drive it they hear the noise, but when they raise it on a hoist, the noise is gone. They all tell me the noise is coming from the tires. However, the noise was there immediately after I changed the tires, twice. My question here is, if the rotors or the rear brake drums are warped would the noise go away when we put the car on a hoist? What about when the wheels are bent, would the noise go away on a hoist? I am puzziled and annoyed by this noise. I would really appreciate it if you could help me. I don’t want to change tires again. Thanks
HR
If the noise IS coming from a tire it should be relatively easy to narrow down.
Try to pinpoint the area the noise is coming from before rotating any tires.
Once you find where the noise comes from, switch the tire from one side of the vehicle to the other. If the noise follows, you know where to start.
If the noise remains where you originally thought, then it’s a good chance the noise is not from one particular tire.
They aren’t running the vehicle in gear up on the hoist are they? That’s a good way to make it fall off.
Warped rotors or out of round drums do not make any noise (at least not detectable when you drive) they cause a mechanical but silent pulsation in the brake pedal.
I rotate the tires every 5k miles. The noise doesn’t sound it is coming from a perticular tire or corner of the vehicle. Yes they are running the car on the hoist. When they do that there is no noise. The driving noise is gr gr gr gr gr gr, it is pulsing. I have no other ways of explaining it. It is like when something is bent and is hitting something when it is coming around.
Let’s assume that the front brake rotors and rear brake drums are warped. Would the scraping noise (ar ar ar ar) go away when the car is hoisted up running or the wheel is spun by hand? Thanks