2004 Corolla Wheel Rumble - Even after new bearings

[seansmithkzn]

My Wife's 2004 Corolla has a horrible wheel rumble and vibration, exactly as if the wheel bearing is stuffed.

The bearing has been replaced twice, but made no difference.

The brand of tyres has also been changed out to see if it makes a difference but no luck.

It is a loud rumbling while driving and it has gotten to a point where you can feel it through the floor of the vehicle.

Anyone got any ideas on what this can be?

[Notoyboy]

Not always easy tracking down which wheel is the culprit.  When you replaced the bearing for the first time, was the old bearing definitely failing?  Wondering if you've been focusing on the wrong wheel, and it's another wheel bearing playing games. 

Did the replacement bearings give the same rumble as soon as they were fitted?

Were the bearings supplied by Toyota?  I guess there are bound to be fakes/poor copies around.

[seansmithkzn]

I've replaced all of the wheel bearings. You can feel the droning of it through the pedals and floor, it is also worse if you steer left (thereby loading the right wheel more) and less if you steer right (thereby reducing the load on the right wheel). 

I had been sure it was wheel bearings so changed them all while I was at it, but it made no difference. 

After a few km, I changed the right wheel bearing again in case I'd gotten a bad bearing, but still no difference. 

The tyres that were on the front were very noisy, so I changed those out, and although the road noise is gone the noise that sounds like a bad bearing is still there and getting worse. 

I'm starting to wonder about the bearing on the gearbox where the CV joint goes into the box. 

 

[Notoyboy]

Hmmm, I'm no expert, so casting around for other ideas.... so, if not the wheel bearings (you've done well, replacing them all), then a worn CV joint?  A worn joint somewhere in the suspension?  Seeing another of your posts, the car's done quite a mileage - is it possible the engine's dropped, and the rumble noise is the engine sitting on a failed engine mounting, and the engine vibration is being transmitted through the body?  I assume the exhaust's not so close to the bodywork that there's contact when the engine moves slightly.

Whatever the fault, I'd be reluctant to do more work until confident I'd identified the problem.  Has the rumble slowly crept up, or did it seem to appear after some work had been done on the car?  Never easy to identify, with having tyre noise, which can get worse as the tyres wear.

OldCodger is very knowledgable with having a 1.6 Corolla, and I expect he'll have some wise words for you, Hopefully he'll be along soon ☺️

[tooSavvy]

+1 on Engine mount!

2sav

[seansmithkzn]

The rumble varies according to the speed of the vehicle but not according to the engine rev's, also putting in the clutch and free wheeling makes no difference. 

[Notoyboy]

Hmmmm.... your suggestion in earlier post of an issue with the gearbox has some credence.  Could be the gearbox, or even the diff which we tend to forget.  When was gearbox oil last changed, and was there much metal debris.  Is it worth checking gearbox oil level?  Haynes suggests gearbox oil change at 40,000 miles.

Any untoward noises when spinning the front wheels, with car jacked up, though I'm not sure how useful this check really is.

 

[oldcodger]

5 hours ago, Notoyboy said:

  Never easy to identify, with having tyre noise, which can get worse as the tyres wear.

OldCodger is very knowledgable with having a 1.6 Corolla, and I expect he'll have some wise words for you, Hopefully he'll be along soon ☺️

 

Afraid I'm as stuck as you here ...

However would like a bit of clarification from Sean  -

You say  "replaced them all"  then later say you "changed the Right one again"   so do you mean your have changed the bearings on all four wheels or just the two front wheels ?

Before you changed them, did you test. or have them tested for any bearing movement by trying to move the wheel or even spin it so you might hear any odd bearing noises.

This would also show up any brake drag noise, which is something I thought might be the problem ?

When you replace the bearings was that a new hub with the bearings prefitted or did you fit new bearings into your existing hubs ?

Have you had any proper checks done on the driveshafts and suspension etc by a recent MOT test.

Bad CV joints can usually be tested by finding an empty flat car park , and driving around with the full steering lock , in both directions,  and see it it produces any clicking sounds or noises.

 

If the noise is so prominent, how about taking a passenger out with you to try and record the sound on your phone, it can help as other have done.

 

 

[Colourd]

If you've changed all the wheel bearings and still have the noise / rumble, then it does sound like its going to be diff / gearbox bearings

Unless the drive shaft on that side is somehow doing it

[seansmithkzn]

Morning folks. 

All the wheel bearings were changed, at that stage it still had the noisy tyres on. 

There was no change so the noise was put down to the tyres. 

The tyres were then changed, and although the road noise from the tyres has gone, there is still a bearing rumble. 

I then had the front right bearing changed again, but this made no difference and the noise is getting worse and is at a point now where you can feel the vibration through the pedals. 

The vibration doesn't change at all well different engine speeds or different gears, the only thing that varies it is change in vehicle so speed. 

[Colourd]

Sounds like diff bearings then imho

[Colourd]

Any news ?

[Craig Goliath]

Hi Sean, I've experienced something similar to what you have explained and if you have not sorted the problem already I hope it'll help that I mention that I had a camber issue on my front wheels and had it straightened up at precision wheel alignment down in CPT, During the suspension check I also found that the shocks were done for so opted for the the Burly Pro set (which is quite new on our market) and got new shock stabilizer links and just replaced the engine mountings too.

My RunX is on 307xxxkms.

Some of the common symptoms of a bad sway bar bushing or sway bar links going bad are:

• clunking noise,
• rattling noise,
• knocking uneven noise road,
• lack of stability when driving and noise going over speed bumps.
• poor handling during turns.

I'm happy to say that all those funny noises and vibrations are a thing of the past, and seeing you've got a 2004 model I can only imagine your car being close to or just over the 300 000 kms mark as well.

Once again hope my 2c is insightful. Let us know if you managed to sort it out.

[Notoyboy]

@ Craig

Would Sway Bar be what we know in the UK as Anti-roll Bar?

[Craig Goliath]

@Notoyboy yeah I believe it's the same thing 

[TonyHSD]

Hi, what about rear bearings? Have you inspected them or replaced? If yes and they are all ok, than you have to move into the breaking system, discs and pads , sliding pins and pistons, all need proper service, cleaning plus lubrications and check if the discs are worn out and there is a lip on them the pads may touching those lips especially in turns and create rumbling sounds too. There some rubber balancer on the driveshafts if they are damaged or unsecured they may also do that trouble, you can check that and than move towards the engine mounts, transmission bearings too, maybe gear oil change ?