Whistling noise in rear wheel area after tire rotation (2013 Kia Forte)

General Discussion
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1

Got a tire rotation a two weeks ago on my new 2013 Kia Forte (purchased in August 2012).
Now, I have a very high pitched whistling noise coming from the rear tire area. t\The sound happens
at all speeds. The sound is the worse at very slow speeds; the sound is also very bad at very slow speeds when I touch the breaks and turn the wheel.
I looked at back tires from outside the car (not underneath the car). The mechanical set-up of back tires look very different than that of the front tires. The back tires have metal parts touching each other while the front tires do not. Could the dealership have done something wrong when I got my tires rotated? Any other reason?
The whistling noise, when bad, is non-stop and is very high pitched and goes up & down the musical scale.
Any ideas? Going to the dealership tomorrow but want to be informed first. Thank you for any help you can give me!!

Emr.

2

@emr it sounds like the tire sizes are different front and rear

If that is the case, tires should NOT be rotated

Here’s what you can do

Look at the sidewalls of the front and rear tires and read the width of the tire

The wider tire should be in the rear

If that is not the case, somebody may have messed up

3

I don’t think this is a tire problem. The rotation must have loosened something.

Get the vehicle checked out - and in particular the metal parts that are touching. I can’t tell what that might be describing.

4

It could be a variety of things, like maybe the wheel covers were just put on loose, but be very cautious, as the wheel lug nuts may not have been properly tightened. This is not unheard of after a wheel rotation. I did it myself in fact and ended up driving down the road with a wobbly wheel on my Corolla. It’s important to have this checked asap. Avoid any high speed driving until then. If you notice any sensation of the wheels wobbling or rocking, pull off the road immediately.

One thing you could do besides checking the lug nuts, take a look at the wheel covers. Are any of them on loose? Are they different from the right side to the left side? Maybe the wheel covers are not symmetric and need to go on the correct side of the car. I’ve never heard of right handed wheel covers, but anything is possible now-a-days.

I think some Kias, not sure about the 2013, may have front disc and rear drum brakes and that might be what you are noticing, how the front and rear look different. In any event, even if they are disc both front and rear, the front wheel mechanics look different than the rear b/c the front wheels power and steer the car, while the rear wheels are just along for the ride.