Drone sound at 65 mph?

[Dave1027]

I get a little bit of a drone sound at about 65mph. Get it up to 70 and it goes away. Anybody seen this problem? Hard to tell exactly where it's coming from. Might be driveline like maybe the carrier bearing or the driveshaft guibo (I think it has one of those).

[echo46]

I think I have the same type of sound sometimes. Sort of like a droning. I've had zero issues so I never worried about it but I'm curious to see if anyone has an answer.

[kayger12]

First guess is tires.

Second guess is a hub bearing.

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[mLuMaN83]

I drone bad at 15-25. I need new tires, diff bushings, and a few other things.

[Dave1027]

First guess is tires.
Yes but then the problem is how to isolate when we have staggered wheels you can't rotate. I'm considering switching to squared.
I gues I could put on the spare to test.

[kayger12]

Look at your tread wear. A lot of times you'll find excessive wear on the inner shoulder of one of the front tires.

That often leads to droning.

It's not always obvious by eyeballing it but a tread depth gauge will tell the tale.

[spoonerDee]

If it's a bearing you will hear the drone go away or get quieter if you shift the weight on the car from one side to another. So CAREFULLY sway the car back and forth when you hear the drone. If it gets louder and quieter from side to side it could be the bearing.

When it went on my old e36 if I took a turn hard to the right it went away then came back as I straightened, then if I took a hard left it got real loud.

Also sometimes you can hear the bad bearing by lifting the wheel off the ground and spin it, it will sound like a roller skate.

[echo46]

^^ Same with my e30. I was young and dumb(well still am dumb) and drove that bearing into the ground. It was so burned out it was almost impossible to remove.

[Torxuvin]

Look at your tread wear. A lot of times you'll find excessive wear on the inner shoulder of one of the front tires.

That often leads to droning.

It's not always obvious by eyeballing it but a tread depth gauge will tell the tale.

My first thought was tires or wheel bearing too. It is pretty easy to check for cupping or uneven wear if you can take the tires off. My M3 had that problem bad when I first got it. Do you have any sort of vibration with the drone? I would expect there to be some through the pedal at least if there is any kind of driveline issue.

[Dave1027]

Do you have any sort of vibration with the drone? I would expect there to be some through the pedal at least if there is any kind of driveline issue.
Nope. No vibration at all. Just the sound. I'm going to try Spooner's idea, weaving side to side.

[kayger12]

Nope. No vibration at all. Just the sound. I'm going to try Spooner's idea, weaving side to side.

Another easy and definitive way to check for bearing wear is to jack up the car and apply pressure to the sidewall of the tire alternating at 9 and 3 o clock positions.

If the bearings are worn you'll have axial play/movement. If the bearings are good it won't move.

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