Okay, so I have a 2001 VW Jetta TDI. Love it. But have had a vibration and rotating noise while driving. I took it to the mechanic and had a wheel bearing replaced and the front rotors turned. But, when I got back in the car after the mechanic did the work and also rotated the tires, the vibrations and noise are worse! I took it straight back to the mechanic and told him it was worse. We went for a drive together to talk about the noises, and he could not figure what it could be. The tires were just put on 10 days ago after taking off the snow tires. They are not new but in very good shape as far as I can tell. The mechanic said he turned the wheels while on the lift and heard no noise.
The noise and vibration are especially bad between 20-30mph.
The only suggestions the mechanic had was to check the mounting of the tires and rotate again.
Any other thoughts? This is making me crazy.
Thanks and sorry for the long winded explanation.
There may be a reason they ended up for sale as used tires. You may have discovered the reason.
The vibration source could be isolated to the tires on a “road force balancing” machine. The noise may be just road noise characteristic to the tires.
To be honest, if the noise and vibration atarted with the installation of the new tires, I wouldn’t even bother. I’d just look for some good affordable new replacements and put new tires on it.
I had a set of brand new Continentals once that would not roll smooth or quiet. After numerous attempts by the tire store to balance them and then to try to tell me I had a bent rim (which they could not show me), I finally made them change them to BF Goodys. The problems were solved! I was back to my smooth, realatively (for a pickup) quiet ride again.
I had a similar experience 10 years ago with 4 new Marshall tires from Korea. They were not bad initially, but it seems the hardness of the rubber varied around the circumference, resulting in uneven wear. These tires were IMPOSSIBLE TO BALANCE, and it got worse as they wore. I kept the best one for a spare and THREW THE REST AWAY!
As our other poster implied, these tires may have been rejected by the previous owner for that reason. The only good use I can see for them is on a farm wagon, where the low speed will not result in a balance problem.
Sorry I can’t be more helpful, but don’t buy cheap Korean or Chinese tires.
Thanks for the suggestions. Took it and had the tires rotated front to back. This seems to have fixed the vibration between 20-30mph. Still a small noise now coming from the back, I guess the tires are “chopped.” They don’t seem to be the cheapest tires (supposed to last for 60,000 miles) but probably not the best either. Plan to drive them until the snow tires have to go back on. Am keeping an eye on the other wheel bearing as well.
Best wishes all.