07 RRS possible front diff noise

[Nomad9]

Hi Forumites,
So maybe I'm suffering from paranoia, not sure. For quite some time now I've had a bit of a noise at the front of the vehicle, first noticed it more going down the freeway with the window open and passing the centre reservation wall.
Replaced the wheel bearings and the noise has somewhat diminished, I di find one wheel bearing to be a bit noisy when spun free in air, no load.

Now when I'm driving I get a slight noise around 60 klm/hr, definitely at the front and sounds to be at the right frequency to be coming from the diff area, can feel the high frequency vibe coming through the steering wheel a bit. It is only very slight and isn't wheel wobble or balance. Above 60 klm/hr nowhere near as obvious, I then get something around 90klm/hr, not as pronounced as 60 klm/hr.

Does the RRS / D3 front diff have any known issues? Mine is a 2.7 turbo diesel, auto, oil changed about 15,000 klm ago. The noise has been there for a while and doesn't seem to be getting any worse.

Anybody got any insight into what the problem might be? If in fact there is one. Feels like a bearing, truth be known, difficult to pinpoint. Any constructive comments welcomed, thanks in anticipation.

Cheers Marty

[BobD]

What tyres do you have? I had Continental Cross Contacts which made a noise once they were half worn which I could have sworn was front wheel bearings, especially around 70. I put the stock Wranglers back on and zero noise.

Try to rule out tyres before doing anything else. Mine were so bad that peripheral parts of the body work vibrated with the noise when slowing down at lights. There was no noise when the tyres were new.

Bob

[Nomad9]

Hi Bob,
Very interesting...........now you mention this I didn't have this issue before I fitted the GG ATR's..... I wonder. One wheel bearing was a bit on the noisy side, now replaced that bit is fine.

Great response Bob, sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees, until you mentioned this I didn't put the tyres down as a possible issue. My next "thing to do" was get an oil analysis done to see if there is any wear metal particles in the oil. I have relatively easy access to an oil analysis test.

Thank you.

[Rich84]

I would also point to tyres. I have a similar noise on my 08MY RRS TDV6. Have put 50k on the car and it is no better or worse, but it changes intensity on different road surfaces all the way down to nothing on certain surfaces, which is why I would point towards tires.

[Epic pooh]

Marty, I have GG ATs on my D3 and I have noises like you describe. It is they tyres (I've done both front bearings recently as one failed but couldn't be easily picked over the tyre noise until it was terminal) - the tyre noise is particularly annoying at 90kmh. I recently rotated and had a wheel align and the noise is less (feathered fronts now on rear and noise abated significantly for a few weeks). Hth