Replacing both rear wheel bearings hasn’t cured the drone???

[4WDrifter]

My daughter has a 2016 RS3 and this week while she’s on holiday the car was in the garage to see about a droning noise at 45mph which to me definitely sounded like a wheel bearings or bearings.
we’ve replaced both rear wheel bearings and the noise is still there and it seems to be at the rear.
The noise comes in at about 40mph increases to 45mph then fades.
Changing the suspension settings from comfort(soft) to dynamic (stiffer) makes it worse.
There were 2 different makes of tyre on the rear so we tried 2 completely different wheels on the rear and noise was gone though the alternative rims were 18” with 40 profile tyres and the car has 19” with 35 profile tyres so fairly close.
We put 2 new tyres on the rear and the drone is back.
Has anyone any other thoughts?
Has anyone an experience of a front wheel bearings going and it sounding like it’s at the rear?

[david1980]

If you changed the wheels and the noise was gone I'd be looking more towards that, check bushes, maybe try a third set of wheels on the rear. Check the ET of the wheels, my s2 had 19's on it when I got it and one wheel had a different et on it I found out.

[4WDrifter]

If you changed the wheels and the noise was gone I'd be looking more towards that, check bushes, maybe try a third set of wheels on the rear. Check the ET of the wheels, my s2 had 19's on it when I got it and one wheel had a different et on it I found out.

Thanks, the wheels on the car are the original OEM wheels, the different tyres on the rear were because she had damage a tyre in a pot hole and needed a new tyre but tyre depot didn’t have exact match.
We’re going to get an alloy wheel man to look at the rims with his “expert” eye to see if he can see something we can’t.

[Tractor Dave]

Sounds like a buckled wheel to me.

[John.]

I'd be for swapping wheels front to rear.

[rynaqui]

Buckled wheel for sure, tyres can also do this but if you said you've changed them I would say it is a buckled wheel.

[K Simmonds]

Sounds like a buckled wheel to me.

This is almost certainly the problem, I suspect the rim that needed a new tyre is badly out of true, it explain the symptoms you describe.

[4WDrifter]

The wheel doesn’t look buckled we are getting an alloy wheel refurbished guy to look at it to see there is something hidden in it crack wise
Swapping front to back made no difference
4 different wheels and tyres fitted made no difference either
If anyone on here went for a drive in the car and I asked “you what is that noise?” I guarantee you’d say “wheel bearing”
Then I’d ask you “which one?” And you’d say rear left or right and I’d say “ can’t be “ as they are both new.
so that only leaves the fronts. And there’ no point in replacing 1 of them to have 3 new and 1 at 121k miles. So 2 new front wheel bearing ordered but they didn’t fit when they arrived so need to be ordered from Audi and Monday is a bank holiday so now it’s Tuesday delivery.
It seems, perusing t’internet, that RS3 wheel bearing are good for 100k miles and we’re at 121k so realistically the wheel bearings are due to go sometime so I can get my head around it as preventative maintenance I suppose.
I came across a thread on the AudiRS3OC forum last night and a guy had a rear wheel bearing noise in his car so he phoned the local Audi garage to be told he’d have to wait a couple of weeks before they could see him. Nothing out of the usual there.
So he took the car to an independent guy and they replaced one rear wheel bearing but noise was still present. So then it was a series of worst case scenarios from the other forum members, diffs, gearboxes, driveshafts etc etc. So he rang the Audi garage again and the wait was the same or longer, so he took the car to a different Audi garage who could see him sooner. Turned out it was a front wheel bearing and when replaced, silence. Reading between the lines I presume that initially they were sure it was a rear wheel bearing, same as we were, but it turned out to be a front one.
Roll on Tuesday, fingers crossed.

[JonRS2]

At the risk of me sounding like a complete idiot, if it isn’t the wheels or tyres or wheel bearings, could it just be the exhaust note at certain rpm? I was convinced I had a rear wheel bearing noise on a different make of car but it turned out to be the exhaust note. Putting the car in neutral with handbrake on and having someone gently hold the accelerator at different revs and it was obvious when putting an ear near the exhaust tips. Only at certain rpm. Nothing wrong with the exhaust or car - just its particular exhaust character / tone at certain rpm.

[K Simmonds]

The wheel doesn’t look buckled we are getting an alloy wheel refurbished guy to look at it to see there is something hidden in it crack wise
Swapping front to back made no difference
4 different wheels and tyres fitted made no difference either
If anyone on here went for a drive in the car and I asked “you what is that noise?” I guarantee you’d say “wheel bearing”
Then I’d ask you “which one?” And you’d say rear left or right and I’d say “ can’t be “ as they are both new.
so that only leaves the fronts. And there’ no point in replacing 1 of them to have 3 new and 1 at 121k miles. So 2 new front wheel bearing ordered but they didn’t fit when they arrived so need to be ordered from Audi and Monday is a bank holiday so now it’s Tuesday delivery.
It seems, perusing t’internet, that RS3 wheel bearing are good for 100k miles and we’re at 121k so realistically the wheel bearings are due to go sometime so I can get my head around it as preventative maintenance I suppose.
I came across a thread on the AudiRS3OC forum last night and a guy had a rear wheel bearing noise in his car so he phoned the local Audi garage to be told he’d have to wait a couple of weeks before they could see him. Nothing out of the usual there.
So he took the car to an independent guy and they replaced one rear wheel bearing but noise was still present. So then it was a series of worst case scenarios from the other forum members, diffs, gearboxes, driveshafts etc etc. So he rang the Audi garage again and the wait was the same or longer, so he took the car to a different Audi garage who could see him sooner. Turned out it was a front wheel bearing and when replaced, silence. Reading between the lines I presume that initially they were sure it was a rear wheel bearing, same as we were, but it turned out to be a front one.
Roll on Tuesday, fingers crossed.

That does sound absolutely maddening, as you say wheel bearing noise is very distinctive and can usually be placed by ear to which axle it's coming from if not which wheel itself, though it's normally there pretty much all the time and get's worse the faster the you go as opposed to being speed specific. Thinking about it if the wheel with the damaged tyre was badly bent this should have been mentioned when they replaced the tyre as it's obvious if a wheels buckled when it comes to balancing, it'll be visible by eye and require loads of weights to correct...

If replacing the front bearings doesn't cure the issue which it seems you're now committed to having done and if you're going to keep the car long term isn't a bad idea I'd concentrate on the corner that hit a pot hole. I very much doubt it's the diff but the impact could possibly have damaged the outer or inside CV joint or even the driveshaft itself. I have experienced damaged CV joint's making a noise very much like a failing bearing and at a specific speed, I'm not saying that's the problem for certain as without being in the car and hearing for it myself it's impossible to say. I'd started by checking the hub on that corner for run out with a DTI gauge, it's highly unlikely it's out of true but that also need's to be ruled out and it's a very quick and easy thing to do.

[ottawa coupe]

You say you changed wheels/tires and it went away? That's gotta be the issue. Could be that the tread design of the 19s produces a drone? I thibk ypu indicated there was a mismatch at one point, were the tire diameters front to rear within spec? I believe it's in the 3% range?

You cured the problem temporarily so one assumes that's the variable to focus on.

[4WDrifter]

That does sound absolutely maddening, as you say wheel bearing noise is very distinctive and can usually be placed by ear to which axle it's coming from if not which wheel itself, though it's normally there pretty much all the time and get's worse the faster the you go as opposed to being speed specific. Thinking about it if the wheel with the damaged tyre was badly bent this should have been mentioned when they replaced the tyre as it's obvious if a wheels buckled when it comes to balancing, it'll be visible by eye and require loads of weights to correct...

If replacing the front bearings doesn't cure the issue which it seems you're now committed to having done and if you're going to keep the car long term isn't a bad idea I'd concentrate on the corner that hit a pot hole. I very much doubt it's the diff but the impact could possibly have damaged the outer or inside CV joint or even the driveshaft itself. I have experienced damaged CV joint's making a noise very much like a failing bearing and at a specific speed, I'm not saying that's the problem for certain as without being in the car and hearing for it myself it's impossible to say. I'd started by checking the hub on that corner for run out with a DTI gauge, it's highly unlikely it's out of true but that also need's to be ruled out and it's a very quick and easy thing to do.

It’s just too like a wheel bearing noise, that’s why we’re heading in the direction that we are. I accept that there are lots of other things it could be but common things are common and as I’ve said they probably have reached their lifespan anyway. Tuesday will tell the tale.

[4WDrifter]

You say you changed wheels/tires and it went away? That's gotta be the issue. Could be that the tread design of the 19s produces a drone? I thibk ypu indicated there was a mismatch at one point, were the tire diameters front to rear within spec? I believe it's in the 3% range?

You cured the problem temporarily so one assumes that's the variable to focus on.

I wasn’t there to hear the noise gone when the garage swapped on 2 wheels on the rear, but the wheels weren’t the correct size for the car- see my initial post- and that led us to replace both rear tyres but then the drone was back. So we did get 4 wheels and tyres to fit the car and when we put all 4 wheels and tyres on the drone was present. I think, and this is just me thinking, when the garage put 2 18” rims with 40 profile tyres on the rear in an attempt to swap out the rear wheels, including the one that hit the pothole, they might not have run it up to 45/50mph because there were all sorts of dash warnings about the mismatched wheels,and thus not got to “drone speed” and add in a heavy dose of confirmational bias they thought the noise had gone.

[4WDrifter]

Silence is golden!!!! noise gone. Everyone at garage amazed- “ never seen it before”.
I suppose every day’s a school day.
Happy now.

[K Simmonds]

That's great news, kinda a new one on me to be honest, really glad you didn't have to start chasing a phantom noise.