Noisy Rear - Tyres or More Serious?

[Meriden33]

I have recently purchased a 2012 Black Edition 2.0 TDi with 50K on the clock.
Car was purchased from an Audi main agent and fully warranted.
Having now done about 3000 miles and am getting a lot of noise from the rear.
The noise sounds like humming/thrumming.
The noise varies with speed and does vary upon road surface.
Tyres have about 4mm tread left and are Dunlop Maxx Sports.

Is this a tyre issue or are the bearings suspect?

Any thoughts please?

[dubvrs]

This is a common problem on a number of modern cars. The rear tyres have saw tooth wear and this causes the noise. This could be down to tyre pressure, tracking or just how the car has been driven previously. I would change the wheels front to back and the problem should go away but also get a 4 wheel alignment done as well.

[RicardoA4Sline]

This is a common problem on a number of modern cars. The rear tyres have saw tooth wear and this causes the noise. This could be down to tyre pressure, tracking or just how the car has been driven previously. I would change the wheels front to back and the problem should go away but also get a 4 wheel alignment done as well.

Agree here, this is what I have had happen with a coue of these cars.

Rub your hand over the wheel tread and suspect that you'll find that it's rough or uneven feeling, especially if it's been on there most of those miles.

Mine is a 2010 with 36k on the clock original rears and it was doin the same, I've put the fronts to rear (more tread on rear so more sense) and the noise has dropped off completely

[RichA4]

I had the same problem on my 2014 Black edition ( 19" wheels ).

Moved rears to the front and the problem was amplified tenfold !!

Ended up replacing the tyres at about 4mm tread depth.

[Pork]

+4 on the tyres.
It seems some tread patterns suffer more than others but it's a problem synonymous with A4's and Avants in particular (according to my local dealer) Mine had Avons on the rear when I bought it - didn't notice on the test drive but did within 5 minutes of picking the car up.
Put some Michelin PS3's on and they were good for nearly 40k on the rear.

PS, it sounds exactly like a wheel bearing failing.

[b206]

I have recently purchased a 2012 Black Edition 2.0 TDi with 50K on the clock.
Car was purchased from an Audi main agent and fully warranted.
Having now done about 3000 miles and am getting a lot of noise from the rear.
The noise sounds like humming/thrumming.
The noise varies with speed and does vary upon road surface.
Tyres have about 4mm tread left and are Dunlop Maxx Sports.

Is this a tyre issue or are the bearings suspect?

Any thoughts please?

FWD or Quattro ?
If FWD change the tyres first - if quattro it's unlikely to be "saw tooth".

[Meriden33]

Have taken the advice and swapped fronts/rears over.
Noise is now on the front.
Looks like 4 new tyres!!

[sebgreen]

Interesting. This may explicable why last time my car went in, I mentioned a hum to the mechanic. On returning he said the bearings were fine.


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[Meriden33]

Have now fitted a complete set of Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2s.
Not cheap but definitely the right choice.
The change is incredible.
No noise and ride has definitely improved.
The Dunlops taken off had very uneven wear across the width when I looked at them closely.
4 wheel tracking was also checked and was spot on.
Hope this is of help to anyone else with this problem.

[RichA4]

Glad you got sorted but I guessed the answer would be a tyre change as I had to do the same myself