"Howling" noise

LS4me

LS4me

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I hear a howling sound, like tire noise, from about 35mph on. It doesn't matter the type of road surface, it is the same howling/grinding noise. The pitch changes a little and diminishes slightly above about 70mph. The tires are new Bridgestone RE970 Pole Positions. I changed tires early from the Hankooks as I thought they were the noise culprit. I changed out the front hubs with no decrease in sound. The noise is much louder on a 40ish right hand curve and decreases back to what it was before the sound.

Ideas?

2006 if it matters.......
 
G-RELL said:
are you sure its coming from the front of the car?
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Sounded like it. Are you thinking rear bearing? I checked before I left for work and the CV boots on the axles look intact. There is no leaking grease.

Oh yea..... The LS has ~58K miles.
 
Does it change at all when applying the brakes, other then the decrease in speed?
 
a quick test might be is to jack up the rear end and run it... if you have no noise, most likely a problem in the front end... If you can hear it crawl under and see if you can isolate it... Let us know before and after you do this though, make sure you didn't die in the process :p ...
 
Check your brakes over good. I had a seized rear caliper slider that chewed up the inner most pad that was giving me a "howling" noise going down the road.
 
I once had a car with worn out ball joints that would howl going down the road, and the pitch would change when you went around a left hand curve or right. The camber of the tire was changing so much that it made the tread sound different on the pavement. Did you check ball joints when you did the hubs?
 
Sounds like a wheel bearing to me...Does it sound kind of like a propeller airplane? I had a bad wheel bearing in the right rear wheel and that's the sound it reminded me of. It changed with pitch, couldn't hear it until I was above 35mph. Sounded like I had extremely aggressive mud tires on my LS, but it ended up being a wheel bearing.
 
Its going to be a rear wheel bearing

Lift up the car grab the tire at 12 and 6 o'clock try to move it if it has play the bearing is bad.
 
I had a howling noise even after replace all rear wheel bearings and the front hub assemblies. It ended up being the rear gear. If you fold down the rear seats and the noise gets loader, then it is the ring and pinion in the rear axle( a typical problem with the LS)
 
05Linc_LS_V8 said:
Sounds like a wheel bearing to me...Does it sound kind of like a propeller airplane? I had a bad wheel bearing in the right rear wheel and that's the sound it reminded me of. It changed with pitch, couldn't hear it until I was above 35mph. Sounded like I had extremely aggressive mud tires on my LS, but it ended up being a wheel bearing.
Click to expand...


EXACTLY the sound!


David00LS8 said:
I had a howling noise even after replace all rear wheel bearings and the front hub assemblies. It ended up being the rear gear. If you fold down the rear seats and the noise gets loader, then it is the ring and pinion in the rear axle( a typical problem with the LS)
Click to expand...

It's at the shop now and the tech is pretty sure it is the right rear bearing. I'll know for sure tomorrow....... At least I know this is something I can't do.
 
After ~$470 and two new rear bearings the LS is quiet again! The right bearing was shot and the left was slowly dying.
 
<$100 (per side) job if you do it yourself :p

Not fun to do though.

Glad you got it fixed up. I couldn't believe how quiet the LS was once I fixed mine.
 
05Linc_LS_V8 said:
Sounds like a wheel bearing to me...Does it sound kind of like a propeller airplane? I had a bad wheel bearing in the right rear wheel and that's the sound it reminded me of. It changed with pitch, couldn't hear it until I was above 35mph. Sounded like I had extremely aggressive mud tires on my LS, but it ended up being a wheel bearing.
Click to expand...

BlackLS06 said:
Any body have a video of what it sounds like??
Click to expand...

That's the sound.
 
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