# Rumbling noise after rotation and balance **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [July 8, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/rumbling-noise-after-rotation-and-balance/85875 "2014-07-08T02:47:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![spacegoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@spacegoof](https://community.cartalk.com/u/spacegoof)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/rumbling-noise-after-rotation-and-balance/85875/1 "2014-07-08T02:47:38Z")
I recently had my tires rotated and balanced on my 2005 Subaru outback. After they were done, my wife and I noticed a rumbling noise on the driver’s side that starts at about 40mph and doesn’t fade until about 75mph. We took it back and they weight matched the tires and wheels or something like that. Sounds like they just rotated the tires around the rim 180 degrees - still noisy. The tires are almost brand new and according to the technician, completely balanced. They suggested that the bearings were the issue, but it seems strange that right after we got them balanced, the noise started. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!! ---
**Author:** ![insightful](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/insightful/32/2732_2.png) [@insightful](https://community.cartalk.com/u/insightful)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 6:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/rumbling-noise-after-rotation-and-balance/85875/2 "2014-07-08T06:16:15Z")
Out of thousands of sets of tires rotated every day, some will be coincident with the onset of an unrelated problem. Having said that, you could always take it to another shop for evaluation. Wheel bearing noise many times changes in character as you weave the car wide to side. ---
**Author:** ![Caddyman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/caddyman/32/23_2.png) [@Caddyman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Caddyman)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 6:26am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/rumbling-noise-after-rotation-and-balance/85875/3 "2014-07-08T06:26:49Z")
Tires can wear in a pattern and when you rotate them, that pattern hits the pavement differently and can generate a surprising amount of noise…As the tires wear into their new position the noise usually subsides…Keep in mind that as tires wear they tend to become more noisy… ---
**Author:** ![EK\_Hammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/77aa72/32.png) [@EK\_Hammer](https://community.cartalk.com/u/EK_Hammer)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 6:44am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/rumbling-noise-after-rotation-and-balance/85875/4 "2014-07-08T06:44:35Z")
Are the tires directional? If they did the criss crossed meathod of rotating, they are on backwards. If they aren’t directional, it’d probably a odd wear patterned as described above. For safety sake, you should check the wheel bearing, just in case. ---
**Author:** ![spacegoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@spacegoof](https://community.cartalk.com/u/spacegoof)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/rumbling-noise-after-rotation-and-balance/85875/5 "2014-07-09T19:55:55Z")
Thanks so much for your help! I will keep these tips in mind. ---
**Author:** ![CapriRacer](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/capriracer/32/22_2.png) [@CapriRacer](https://community.cartalk.com/u/CapriRacer)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/rumbling-noise-after-rotation-and-balance/85875/6 "2014-07-10T16:42:49Z")
Caddyman said what I was going to say. While EKHammer is correct about being careful about rotating directional tires, he is just plain wrong about directional tires being more susceptible to irregular wear than non-directional tires. They aren’t ---
**Author:** ![insightful](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/insightful/32/2732_2.png) [@insightful](https://community.cartalk.com/u/insightful)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 9:00pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/rumbling-noise-after-rotation-and-balance/85875/7 "2014-07-10T21:00:23Z")
I guess we really don’t know how these tires were rotated. One shop I’m familiar with does _only_ front-to-back rotations. Another shop does cross-rotating if called for in the owner’s manual (with non-directional tires). ---
**Author:** ![melott](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/melott/32/10827_2.png) [@melott](https://community.cartalk.com/u/melott)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/rumbling-noise-after-rotation-and-balance/85875/8 "2014-07-10T21:41:46Z")
Maybe the tire buster failed to fully tighten the lug nuts. It happened once to me. Same symptom. ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 9:27am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/rumbling-noise-after-rotation-and-balance/85875/9 "2014-07-11T09:27:52Z")
How many miles has it been since the tires were last rotated? All of the suggestion given I agree with. I’ll add too that of the shop has a machine that does “road force balancing”, that too can solve problems. It’s a much better procedure than regular spin balancing. You might also want to double-check the tire pressures. I’ve seen shops jack the tire pressures up, and that can cause road noise on a tire with a wear pattern in it. ---
**Author:** ![spacegoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@spacegoof](https://community.cartalk.com/u/spacegoof)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/rumbling-noise-after-rotation-and-balance/85875/10 "2014-07-11T22:23:08Z")
It had been about 9000 miles since they were put on initially. So, that’s probably the problem based on what you all have said on here. As far as the tire rotation procedure, I’m not sure. We’ll just wait and see if it fades with time. Thanks for your suggestions! ---
**Author:** ![EK\_Hammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/77aa72/32.png) [@EK\_Hammer](https://community.cartalk.com/u/EK_Hammer)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 7:30am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/rumbling-noise-after-rotation-and-balance/85875/11 "2014-07-12T07:30:47Z")
@CapriRacer‌ While EKHammer is correct about being careful about rotating directional tires, he is just plain wrong about directional tires being more susceptible to irregular wear than non-directional tires. They aren’t I didn’t say such a thing. I said if they weren’t directional, then it was prop ably a odd wear pattern making the noise ---
**Author:** ![CapriRacer](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/capriracer/32/22_2.png) [@CapriRacer](https://community.cartalk.com/u/CapriRacer)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 4:53pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/rumbling-noise-after-rotation-and-balance/85875/12 "2014-07-12T16:53:15Z")
EKHammer said: “I didn’t say such a thing. I said if they weren’t directional, then it was propably a odd wear pattern making the noise.” I’m confused, then, about what you are trying to say. Are you saying that if the tires WERE directional, then that is causing the noise? In other words, directional tires are naturally more noisy? (That is not true, either.) ---
**Author:** ![MG-McAnick](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mg-mcanick/32/188_2.png) [@MG-McAnick](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MG-McAnick)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/rumbling-noise-after-rotation-and-balance/85875/13 "2014-07-12T17:27:40Z")
@CapriRacer HUH? I think you’re trying to read something into @EKHammer’s post that just isn’t there.