Hi All.

First time poster etc.

I have this bloody annoying noise in the front of my BA XR6 T Ute. Sort of sounds like running offroad tyres on a 4WD.

I have replaced the discs as they were rooted anyway, with DBA slotted rotors ( and busted the plastic bit on the brake line by being in a hurry in the rain and dark) , I have had the tyres balanced and was going to rotate the fronts onto the rears except for the rims being buckled, but I cant see the noise being buckled rims.

Had it wheel aligned when getting the tyres balanced as well and there was bugger all difference between the before and after.

Tyres looked good (2 months old on the front, standard Dunlops), with an ever so slight feathering on the inside edge (hence the wheel alignment).

It is road speed related.

Bearings feel OK and dont feel notchy with the wheels off.

I have some new round wheels which I will fit soon and eliminate the tyres and 1 buckled wheel.

Any ideas? Anyone seen this before?

Cheers.

probably going to be a wheel bearing. Its not common but not uncommon either. Often you cant hear them when u spin the wheels either.
how many km on the car?
has it ever b een on a train in its life?

I swear you answered your own statement.

wheel bearing,when your driving down the road sway from left to right,if the noise dissapears when you swerve right then id say its your right wheel bearing,and vice versa for the left,its just taking the load off that side of the car,i sent my bosses ute to ford the other day for a new one under warranty,yours should be under warranty ???

Thanks for the replies.

Never been on a train, and the thing with wheel bearing is it didnt do it one day, then loud as buggery the next day. Every other wheel bearing I have ever done gets louder with the dints in the bearings, unless I have chipped one.

What is the warranty on these things? I bought it new in Nov 2003 and expected it to be out of warranty Nov last year. 91,000 KM

Had a mate drive it ( he was a Ford Mechanic years ago, still into racing etc and he drives a BA XR6 T sedan) and he reckoned tyres which is why I went there. We did the swerving thing ( I was swerving before I got in after a few too many bevvies) and it didnt seem to make much difference to me.

Is the recommendation to do the bearings or replace the lot, hub included as a sealed unit with new parts? (assuming it is out of warranty)

so youve supposedly eliminated the tyres??? for noise?what flavour are the tyres size,tread pattern etc,some tyres can be noisy,is the noise more on one side than the other? whirring noises dude 9 times out of 10 are tyres or wheel bearings, if all else fails mate take it to a recommended suspension,driveline workshop and let them work it out for you,they are a sealed unit yes and generally aftermarket are no cheaper than genuine so you make your own deciscion there,they are very easy to fit though,removal of just brake callipers and disc rotors and 1 hub nut and there off,let us know how you go

Hi mista_lroy.

No, havent eliminated the tyres completely, but have had them balanced and had a wheel alignment. Standard Dunlop SP Sport 3000a, fronts 3 months old and prolly 10000KM on them. Still got casting bits on the sidewalls.

The thing that has got me completely, was one day, no noise, next day, noise and I cant put my finger on anything out of the ordinary in that time.

I have had a price from General Bearings in Hoppers Crossing of about $100 per side (cant remember whether it is ex or inc the get stuffed tax or $180 a side from Ford.

Think I might get some of them fancy brake lines as well, given I have buggered the plastic bit on one side as I kind of like stopping nearly as much as going.

balancing wheels has nothing to do with noise,its just a way of evening up the heavy spots from tyre to rim ,in other words to eliminate vibration through the steering wheel etc,wheel alignment wont make whirring noises either,will squeal or howl if out by far but i really dont think any of these are your problem, is this whirring noise related to a humming sort of a noise,?ive got my money on the bearings providing you dont have something loose cosmetically on the car thats flappin in the wind,ring ford though dude just to check the warranty but i think its 5 year or 100,000k??? whatever comes first

Yeah,

I think the train is a clue but I don't know why. One thing's for sure, new bearings will eliminate them as a suspect. The tyres won;t make the noise you describe. How do we know it comes from the front?

Feathering on our tyres can and will make this noise. even if you have bent rims, rotate them front to rear and see if the noise transfers with them. If it dose, then it is the tyres. If not then start looking at your bearings. It is a simple test and can cost nothing if you swap the tyres around your self. Better yet, go back to where you got them balanced. Tell them why you need them rotated and it should cost little or nothing for them to do the rotation for you. This is somthing I have seen many times during the 10 years that I spent in the tyre industry.

I suspect that you, intestinal, would be unable to distinguish between your elbow and your date on this matter, however we can discuss this over lunch. I might even pick you up and we can discuss the merits of this bloody annoying noise on the way. I am quite sure it is from the front because that's where it sounds like for me and any other passengers that have heard it.

MadMatt, I have swapped a different set of rims and tyres onto the front this morning and it is making the same noise unfortunately...

Nearly got as far as replacing the wheelbearings as I bought a new set yesterday, but have no idea how to get the bloody things off.

What is the go with the sheetmetal cage wrapped around the nut? Should I get a 36mm socket and just wind away? I could not see any keyway or other method of making the nut stay on, and there are no split pins or similar retaining devices that I could see and the sheetmetal cage looks welded.

There must be a trick to the retainer or there would be a risk of hubs falling off in reverse if the bearings siezed.

And again the bearings feel very good.

I also removed the undertray on the front bar as it was smashed to buggery and I wanted to eliminate this as a source for the noise.

Anyone got a softcopy of the workshop manual? I have heard of these being available on CD.

Thanks for your help everyone.

your on the money dude that cage looking thing stays on the nut, pretend its not even there ,put a drop of locktite on it when you put them back on and check with ford for the torque settings,i wouldnt know

Hi mista_lroy.

The thing is my mind always wants to know why. Ford are not stupid bastards (well, the technical departments anyway, marketing I can teke or leave and customer service doesnt do much for me even though it is an oxymoron) so why would they have gone to this much trouble to put a welded sheetmetal cage around a wheelnut?

Costwise, it wouldnt be cheaper than getting a bigger nut, surely, and I guess that the beancounters cost this stuff to parts of a cent.

Only thing I can think is that maybe it is softer than the nut and crushed somewhat giving a sort of locking effect, cheaper and stronger than a keyway. Doesnt explein loctite or a split pin though...

Freddy I'll send you a PM, hopefully help your sort out the problem.

i found on my car after i had a little work done to it the exhaust pipe down from the headers was moved to the wrong position and was rubbing and touching the side of the engine ..
this was fixed by adding a spacer between the headers and the block thus adding 2 exhaust gaskets on either side..

hope this info helped..