Droning from the rear

[Watts]

Not me for once I hasten to add 

My GTI has been droning from the back somewhere on and off for a week or two. At first I thought it was differences in road surfaces but it's all the time now and in reality probably some surfaces were quieter than others so it may have only seemed intermittent. I've done 14.5k miles now, could it be the rear tyres? Theres plenty of tread on them as far as I can see, could it be the inside edges? Any and all good suggestions welcomed!

[a9wyn]

You could try swapping the wheels round (rear to front) if the noise is transferred to the front  then you'll know its the wheels /tyres and my bet it will be the tyres?

[fredgroves]

I had this - worn feathered inside edges on the rear tyres.... seem to remember they had about 47000 miles on them but still about 4mm of tread.

Swapped them out, noise gone.

[Watts]

Thanks both, was intending to swap the wheels around to help even the wear, weather dependent then I'll try and do that tomorrow. Could well do without any more expense right now, both cars needing expensive repairs, sofa just been fixed and needs paying for, credit card bill, etc etc...

[dave7268]

I had this on my Mk6 Golf.

If the inside edge of your rear tyres have a sawtooth feel to them then that is what is causing the problem - you rears need realignment.

I got a 4 wheel realignment done on the car and that solved the problem.

[fredgroves]

It could be alignment with that low amount of mileage. With mine it was just to be expected really after 47k!

Bloody hard wearing tombstones...

[Watts]

I had this on my Mk6 Golf.

If the inside edge of your rear tyres have a sawtooth feel to them then that is what is causing the problem - you rears need realignment.

I got a 4 wheel realignment done on the car and that solved the problem.

Cheers dave, there's some hope for my wallet then! I'll still get them swapped round but will look to get an alignment check too.

[I wanted a GTi]

Isn't that what they call cupping. I was told to change mine front to back on the CC every 5k miles. I did try it but changing the wheels every month was a right pain so I gave up.

[fredgroves]

Years ago you used to swap tyres diagonally to wear them evenly

[tonydon41]

I came across this thread because I thought I had a problem with a rear wheel bearing but after reading it now I'm not so sure.
I recently gave a mechanic friend a lift and he noticed a rumble from the rear and commented that a wheel bearing needed changing.
At the same time the car developed an unrelated problem with the steering feeling sticky when driving in a straight line. I took the car into my local VW dealer and a technician test drove it and confirmed that something was wrong with both the steering and a wheel bearing and that it needed to be booked in for at least 2 days with them.
The earliest they could provide a courtesy car for 2 days was 15th Feb, over 3 weeks after my initial visit!
Since then the noise has got much louder and I'm starting to worry about it being unsafe and not lasting until 15th Feb?
The car is a 2 year old GTD that's done 40k miles and is still on the original rear tyres.
Any advice would be appreciated.