1LE
20+ Year Contributor
- 1,347
- 4
- Aug 1, 2002
-
Sylvania,
Ohio
So, for the past few months (and around 2000 miles of driving) I've had this obnoxious sound from the rear of my '95 GSX. Starts at about 20mph and is pretty loud. Sounds like it's coming from both rear wheels. Resonates quite a bit at expressway speeds (made worse by the fact that the car has virtually no interior other than dash and seats). It sounds a lot like snowtires, but also has a bit of a "wubwubwubwub" noise in it too. This car DOES have Nokian WR G2s on it, which are essentially "Summer capable" snowtires, but it was not making the noise with them before it. These tires have been on it for over a year and are not showing any tread wear of note yet.
The volume and speed of the sound is directly related to the speed of the car. No relationship to engine speed, gear selected, turning, accel or decel. No change when suspension load changes either (such as going over bumps). No change on dry/wet/snow/icy surfaces. No play in the rear wheel bearings (which were replaced about 2 years ago due to failure/howling noise). Rear brakes (including calipers) were replaced this Summer (probably a month before the noise in question started) to correct a sticking brake, a brake that was horribly rusted, and a different (scraping) sound in the rear end from a delaminated brake pad. Trans, t-case, and rear diff all checked for leaks and none found. T-case was rebuilt about 6 years ago as it had started leaking after trans rebuild. Trans is a roughly 6 year old TRE rally build. Rear diff is original, but kept current on fluid changes. Car now has 129,750 miles. No torn boots found.
Any ideas? I'm at a loss for anything further I can try that doesn't involve random replacement/rebuilding...
As a side note, just for completeness since I'm 99.999999% sure it's just a horrible coincidence, but the engine developed what sounds like a light rod knock at hot idle right at the same time.
The volume and speed of the sound is directly related to the speed of the car. No relationship to engine speed, gear selected, turning, accel or decel. No change when suspension load changes either (such as going over bumps). No change on dry/wet/snow/icy surfaces. No play in the rear wheel bearings (which were replaced about 2 years ago due to failure/howling noise). Rear brakes (including calipers) were replaced this Summer (probably a month before the noise in question started) to correct a sticking brake, a brake that was horribly rusted, and a different (scraping) sound in the rear end from a delaminated brake pad. Trans, t-case, and rear diff all checked for leaks and none found. T-case was rebuilt about 6 years ago as it had started leaking after trans rebuild. Trans is a roughly 6 year old TRE rally build. Rear diff is original, but kept current on fluid changes. Car now has 129,750 miles. No torn boots found.
Any ideas? I'm at a loss for anything further I can try that doesn't involve random replacement/rebuilding...
As a side note, just for completeness since I'm 99.999999% sure it's just a horrible coincidence, but the engine developed what sounds like a light rod knock at hot idle right at the same time.