What causes a humming tire noise that gets louder with car speed?
There’s a low droning roar coming from the wheels that gets louder the faster I drive. It sounds like off-road tires, but my tires are standard road tread. Is this caused by uneven tire cupping or a failing wheel bearing?
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Expert Answers 1
You can figure out exactly which one it is in about two minutes on an empty road.
Get the car up to the speed where the hum is loudest, then gently swerve a little to the left and a little to the right.
If the roaring suddenly goes quiet when you steer one way, but gets worse the other way, you have a bad wheel bearing.
If the drone stays exactly the same no matter how you move the steering wheel, it's almost certainly tire cupping. You can confirm this just by parking and running your bare hand flat along the inner edge of the tread. If it feels choppy or wavy like a washboard, that's your noise. Just keep in mind that if the tires are cupped, simply replacing them won't fix the root problem—you likely have a blown shock or strut that caused the tire to bounce and wear unevenly in the first place.
Get the car up to the speed where the hum is loudest, then gently swerve a little to the left and a little to the right.
If the roaring suddenly goes quiet when you steer one way, but gets worse the other way, you have a bad wheel bearing.
If the drone stays exactly the same no matter how you move the steering wheel, it's almost certainly tire cupping. You can confirm this just by parking and running your bare hand flat along the inner edge of the tread. If it feels choppy or wavy like a washboard, that's your noise. Just keep in mind that if the tires are cupped, simply replacing them won't fix the root problem—you likely have a blown shock or strut that caused the tire to bounce and wear unevenly in the first place.
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