2017 S75D Oscillating/Rotational noise from front

[Raroia]

Can anybody help identify this noise?

It feels like it is coming from the front. I have checked for wheel bearing play and there is none, all wheels, wheel hubs and even brake calipers are cold to the touch even after a 4 hour drive. Checked all control arms for play all good.

Have not done alignment or wheel balancing since it started.

I think it is either alignment or wheel balance off, potentially front drive unit, but have no idea how that would sound. It sort of sounds like it comes from the middle in the front. Perhaps a bent wheel?

It makes the noise at all speeds and the frequency is directly proportional to the rotational speed of the wheels. At slow speed around 15mph it is a slow wooomp....wooomp....wooomp... and as you can hear in audio clip at 75mph it is wowowowowowowo.

It was really challenging to capture on audio.

Here is the audio file:

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[David Harvey]

Can anybody help identify this noise?

It feels like it is coming from the front. I have checked for wheel bearing play and there is none, all wheels, wheel hubs and even brake calipers are cold to the touch even after a 4 hour drive. Checked all control arms for play all good.

Have not done alignment or wheel balancing since it started.

I think it is either alignment or wheel balance off, potentially front drive unit, but have no idea how that would sound. It sort of sounds like it comes from the middle in the front. Perhaps a bent wheel?

It makes the noise at all speeds and the frequency is directly proportional to the rotational speed of the wheels. At slow speed around 15mph it is a slow wooomp....wooomp....wooomp... and as you can hear in audio clip at 75mph it is wowowowowowowo.

It was really challenging to capture on audio.

Here is the audio file:

SndUp | Post Info

Record, upload, share! SndUp is a social network, for audio! We enable you to upload audio clips and share them with the world. Sharing your talent is simple!

sndup.net

Do you have acoustic tyres? If so, I wonder if the foam has become detached. Failing that I would have the wheels balanced.

 

[Raroia]

I noticed the wheel weights were missing on front driver and having it rebalanced will update if fixed

 

[Raroia]

Was not wheel balance sadly

 

[Raroia]

Do you have acoustic tyres? If so, I wonder if the foam has become detached. Failing that I would have the wheels balanced.

Does not have acoustic tyres, has Michelin CrossClimate2, 19" stock wheels. Not sure what else to check.

 

[Raroia]

Sorry for the multiple posts, sound seems to be getting louder and more vibration through cabin at highway speeds. Anybody get a chance to listen to the sound recording? Sounds like tire to me, but I suppose it could be the bearing. There is a small amount of play at 12 and 6 oclock in one wheel and noise seems to be coming from that vicinity, but it is hard to tell as it resonates through car.

Would be very appreciative of any input. Not sure if I should take in to tesla for diagnostic (worried they will break something) or just buy bearing and do myself (have quote for US$288 with new bolts, bearing, axle nut and axle nut washer from tesla)

 

[David Harvey]

Sorry for the multiple posts, sound seems to be getting louder and more vibration through cabin at highway speeds. Anybody get a chance to listen to the sound recording? Sounds like tire to me, but I suppose it could be the bearing. There is a small amount of play at 12 and 6 oclock in one wheel and noise seems to be coming from that vicinity, but it is hard to tell as it resonates through car.

Would be very appreciative of any input. Not sure if I should take in to tesla for diagnostic (worried they will break something) or just buy bearing and do myself (have quote for US$288 with new bolts, bearing, axle nut and axle nut washer from tesla)

I have listened to your recording, difficult to diagnose. How many miles has your car covered? Have you tried swapping a front wheel to the rear to see if the sound moves with it? I would suggest that you take the car to a trusted workshop who can check and adjust the wheel alignment and to also give an opinion on any wheel bearing replacement. Good luck, let us know the result.

 

[juched]

Hey had this exact same problem with the exact same noise. I was coming up on 35k miles on my Goodyear eagle touring tires and the back tires' tread was basically bald. Just got my tires replaced and the wobbliness + the noise went away.

 

[Raroia]

I have listened to your recording, difficult to diagnose. How many miles has your car covered? Have you tried swapping a front wheel to the rear to see if the sound moves with it? I would suggest that you take the car to a trusted workshop who can check and adjust the wheel alignment and to also give an opinion on any wheel bearing replacement. Good luck, let us know the result.

Hi David, thanks for the input. I have tried rotating tires yes, noise persisted in the front. I am at 94k miles on the original wheel bearings. I will keep you all posted as I plan on changing the front driver side bearing as there is a bit of play.

Tires are in excellent shape with plenty of tread and even wear. About 10k miles on new cross climate 2's.

 

[Raroia]

Hey had this exact same problem with the exact same noise. I was coming up on 35k miles on my Goodyear eagle touring tires and the back tires' tread was basically bald. Just got my tires replaced and the wobbliness + the noise went away.

Hi Juched, thanks for that info. Curious what speed you heard the noise at? I currently have low grumbling and some noise even around 2-3 mph with noticeable noise around 10 mph that increases linearly with speed.

 

[Raroia]

OK I have an update, not at all the outcome I was expecting...

Confirmed once again there was indeed play in front driver wheel when pushing and pulling 12 and 6 o'clock. Inspected the three other bearings, zero noise when spinning and no play 12-6 and 3-9 even when pushing with whole body weight. Inspected all 4 tires, they have zero cupping, one tire may had a bit of radial runout, but didn't seem excessive.

Started getting mentally ready to swap wheel bearing have all parts from Tesla, take out 31" breaker bar and 1/2" drive 32mm impact socket expecting to need quite a bit force to undo axle nut.

Axle nut was finger tight!!!

Tighten back to 245 Nm spec, play is gone in wheel. The 3 other axle nuts were also quite loose but not nearly as bad as first one, torqued all back to spec.

BUT: sound persists, completely unchanged!!!

I suppose loose axle nut could have damaged the wheel bearing, but it feels incredibly smooth with no 12-6 or 3-9 play whatsoever. All 4 bearings feel and sound solid. Tesla service center rep was talking with me, he said they usually last much longer than 95k miles and he was really surprised mine was bad at my mileage... he said make sure it's not something else because I really doubt it would be bad on a 2017 at 95k miles.

Back to square one. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I have attached a new audio recording with this post, this was recorded on very smooth roads with speeds ranging from 20mph to 65mph. To me the sound is very obvious in this recording, I hope it comes through clearly if anybody takes a listen.

 

[Raroia]

Another update, had an alignment done and all wheels balanced. Noise is still there, but less shake in steering wheel. The technician is convinced it's my directional tires making the noise, although he agrees it seems quite extreme.

Alignment seemed fine but I am curious if any connoisseurs on here can tell me otherwise:

 

[NewbyMaybe]

Stuck brake pad? Try stomping the brakes a few times when not in traffic. If the pad pins and slides haven't been cleaned and lubed in a while then .....

 

[Raroia]

Stuck brake pad? Try stomping the brakes a few times when not in traffic. If the pad pins and slides haven't been cleaned and lubed in a while then .....

I actually noticed when checking each of the wheels for bearing noise or play that the rear driver side wheel only would not rotate freely when the car was jacked up. The brake had friction in one position at every rotation, but I thought perhaps it was normal for the brake to drag slightly. Could this be the problem? Also, the sound is quite audible in the front. Rotors look great and lots of meat on all pads.

 

[NewbyMaybe]

Regen does most of the work, the brakes don't heat up like a regular car.
The inside pads tend to stick more often.

 

[livesmith]

Another update, had an alignment done and all wheels balanced. Noise is still there, but less shake in steering wheel. The technician is convinced it's my directional tires making the noise, although he agrees it seems quite extreme.

I can only comment that in the last couple years, I'm finding more new tire issues than I would have thought previously. Especially on my 15' S85D. It seems awfully sensitive. Definitely on the 21's, even after getting the adjustable camber arms, etc. It had a weird vibration at like 45mph. Tires looked pretty decent still. Brand new tires fixed it, then at 7500 miles I rotated them. And that vibration was back again and couldn't get rid of it un-rotating it after I had driven it that way for a bit.

I'm definitely having better luck with the 19's but I'm waiting to see... And as for the sounds... yeah, I had one type/level of sound I didn't really notice with the 21" cheapo tires. Then had some Nokian Z-lines on the 19's that made a roar that made me think I had a bad wheel bearing. Now, I've had the X-Ice on 19's and I love it, everything is butter smooth and quiet and I haven't noticed the usual snow tire wobbliness I've noticed on my other cars...

In short, if you can find another set of wheels and/or tires, I'd definitely give it a shot... I bought my S last June and I currently have... 4 sets of wheels and probably about 5 sets of tires in trying to just get a reliable, not vibrating set for all year...

 

[NewbyMaybe]

Knocking the pins out, cleaning and lube will prevent them from seizing permanently.

 

[Raroia]

I can only comment that in the last couple years, I'm finding more new tire issues than I would have thought previously. Especially on my 15' S85D. It seems awfully sensitive. Definitely on the 21's, even after getting the adjustable camber arms, etc. It had a weird vibration at like 45mph. Tires looked pretty decent still. Brand new tires fixed it, then at 7500 miles I rotated them. And that vibration was back again and couldn't get rid of it un-rotating it after I had driven it that way for a bit.

I'm definitely having better luck with the 19's but I'm waiting to see... And as for the sounds... yeah, I had one type/level of sound I didn't really notice with the 21" cheapo tires. Then had some Nokian Z-lines on the 19's that made a roar that made me think I had a bad wheel bearing. Now, I've had the X-Ice on 19's and I love it, everything is butter smooth and quiet and I haven't noticed the usual snow tire wobbliness I've noticed on my other cars...

In short, if you can find another set of wheels and/or tires, I'd definitely give it a shot... I bought my S last June and I currently have... 4 sets of wheels and probably about 5 sets of tires in trying to just get a reliable, not vibrating set for all year...

Thanks for the feedback, was wondering if you listened to the audio clips I shared and did it sound familiar at all?

The sound is getting progressively worse.

Thanks all for the feedback it is greatly appreciated.

 

[livesmith]

Thanks for the feedback, was wondering if you listened to the audio clips I shared and did it sound familiar at all?

The sound is getting progressively worse.

Thanks all for the feedback it is greatly appreciated.

I just listened to one. I can only say that it doesn't really sound abnormal to me and My first guess would probably be tires.

 

[Raroia]

Thanks for the input livesmith... heading towards the conclusion of tires. It continues to get progressively worse.