Noise from tire at low speed

My 2011 Kia Sorento is making noise from tire at low speed (30~40mph). It sounds like something got stuck on tire which hits the ground as tire rotates. It’s more like womp womp sound. No vibration felt, no metal or squeaking sound. Noise goes away when I apply brakes. I can hear it when I am not applying brakes or gas.

Note that I did my front brakes (rotors and pads) a couple of days ago. I didn’t hear anything yesterday. And my tires are very new (only a couple of months).

Perhaps I messed up tire balance when I put tires back after doing brakes?

Thanks!

Answering my own question. Turns out that lug nuts weren’t fully secure. After tightening them, noise went away.

Take that as a learning experience. Always tighten the wheel after servicing AND re-check it after driving it around a bit JUST in case you didn’t get them properly tight.

Since you are doing your own service you might want to buy a torque wrench so you can properly tighten the wheels to the specified torque in your owners manual.

Thank God you realized it! :smile:

I learned a very long time ago to always double check my work. That means lug nut torque, oil level (and lack of drips when running) after I change the oil, the secure mounting of new windshield wiper blades, and before seatbelt warning beepers became ubiquitous, my seatbelt.

If you made any trips with the nuts loose, you may even want to double check the studs to be sure they’re not stretched at the last threads. Simply remove the wheel and spin a nut on each stud to be sure it goes all the way on. If it binds up before it does, the stud is stretched. A shop might use a “go-no go” gage, and you could too, but IMHO the extra expense for a one time use really isn’t necessary. A nut will do the job fine.

I’ve done that before. Took my car to the repair place to get it looked at, it was closed so I left a note on the windshield with the symptom and parked it there. They know me there, so I was certain they’d look at it the next AM. I took the bus home from the shop. About 4 miles. Then later in the evening I realized it was probably just the lug nuts were loose. The bus had stopped running. So I attached my bike rack on the back of my mt bike, and cycled the 4 miles to the repair shop, tightened the lug nuts, and drove the car and bike back home. The shop never knew the car was even there … lol …