Noisy bearing? or split ply tire?

[superba <superba@pacbell.net>]

Hi All,

I've had at least 2 tires that had the plies separate, probably from someone
using a plug patch to fix a flat tire.  The first one nearly drove me nuts
and I spent more than 3X the cost of a replacement before I finally
identified the problem.  When such a tire is on the front, they sound like a
bad wheel bearing.  When they're moved to the rear, they're quieter but the
sound is still discernable.  I don't know of any way to identify a bad one
other than to move it to another wheel; if the noise follows the tire, it's
bad.  I  once saw 2 tires from a BMW that, when removed from the car and
rolled slowly by hand on smooth concrete, they traced a squiggly track
because the plies had separated.  A tire should easily roll a straight track
when rolled by hand off the car;  otherwise, the tire has tracking problems.

FWIW.  I don't pretend to be a tire expert, but if there is one on the list,
perhaps they could address this tire problem.  Replacing wheel bearings is
either a PITA or expensive, expecially when the problem is really a tire.

My .02 worth.

Cheers!

Jim Jordan
81 5KT > 300K Miles


> - -----Original Message-----
> From:	owner-quattro@audifans.com [mailto:owner-quattro@audifans.com] On
> Behalf Of Huw Powell
> Sent:	Tuesday, December 07, 1999 10:01 AM
> To:	David Nevin
> Cc:	quattro@audifans.com
> Subject:	Re: Noisy bearing?
>
> David Nevi
> > Also, I'm 90% sure it's the wheel bearing. But it's that 10% of doubt
> > that it might be a noisy rear diff. that bothers me. Makes the noise at
> > all speeds, is fairly loud, increases number of "woos" until it becomes
> > a steady pitch at highway speed. CV joint boots are intact and appear to
> > be in good condition.
>
> Just to add to the confusion, I have a tire that is doing just that
> right now.
>
> - --
> Huw Powell
>
> http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi/
>
> 82 Audi Coupe; 84 4kq; 85 Coupe GT; 73 F250
>
> http://people.ne.mediaone.net/audi/thoughts.htm
>
> ------------------------------