My original dealer told me I was worrying about nothing, yet I had to turn the volume on the car stereo up to 50% to drown out the noise. The next dealership said it was an alignment problem, and after an alignment and 4 new tires, they shrugged their shoulders when the noise persisted. The next dealership said the problem was the front struts needed to be replaced. $800 later the whirling sounds persist and the dealership said they had no other ideas. So roughly $3000 into working with the car dealerships I still have these maddening whirling sounds and no one will ride in my car any longer because the noise is so loud. Please help!
Alignment or struts will not cause a whirring noise at all although irregular tire wear caused by an alignment or strut problem can create some noise.
Have they not considered a wheel bearing problem?
May I suggest you visit an independent shop which specializes in steering and alignment problems?
I agree with @ok4450 that you have some of the symptoms of bad wheel bearings.
Would you desribe the noise as a humming sound that gets louder the faster you drive? Does the hum change pitch when you turn the steering wheel slightly, as if going around a sweeping curve on the freeway? If so, the first thing I would suspect would be a bad wheel bearing.
I’d be hard pressed to find a scenario in which an alignment issue or worn strut would make a whirring sound.
Is the noise proportional to the engine speed or the vehicle speed? Or independent of both.
It’s a whirring noise? Can you give us a better description?