My first guess would be worn tires. My second guess would be wheel bearings. After that, I have no idea.

 

If it's a wagon and the sound is comming from the rear, it could be that the foldable tonneau cover over the rear area is making noise. Mine does this if it is not closed properly. It's kinda a whump whump noise.

 

I think the tyres are ok and bearings in the front wheels are fine, so I suppose that would leave the back wheels. Does anyone know if slightly buckled wheels would make a noise like this?

 

No turboBOOST my car is not a convertable.

 

No turboBOOST my car is not a convertable.

Good, is it wagon? I meant the cover that goes over the rear cargo area in the wagon. I really doubt it is your problem but just thought I'd chime in.

 

Good, is it wagon? I meant the cover that goes over the rear cargo area in the wagon. I really doubt it is your problem but just thought I'd chime in.

He means estate car and the noise is coming from the load cover

 

I have had strange noises from my 2001 9-5 SE airflow, for about a year or so. I also have the 17" alloys. To try and resolve this problem I have, so far, replaced the two front wheel bearings, all the tyres have been replaced so that all are now no more than 18 months old and this weekend replace the o/s/r wheel bearing as thats were I thought the noise was coming from. I still have the noise and, if anything, it is getting worse. It starts out as a deep rumble at around 40mph then goes away untill you get to around 60mph after which it comes back as a higher pitch rumble/whine that is very loud (now). Might I suggest that care is taken not to follow a wild goose and go through the nausea of changing bearings unless you are confident that it is the problem. I still have not found a defintitve way of telling whether the bearings are good or bad.


Good luck. Look forward to any ideas on this problem.

 

Sorry turbo we call them estates over here. But no its a saloon model.

 

mitsi511 the noise your car is making seems similar to the problem I have with my car. The rumbling seems to peak when you approach 40mph, although its also present at lower speeds and is still there if I drive faster. Its also a repetative noise and it seems to be directly related to the wheels/tyres.

My front tyres are less than a year old, but the rear tyres are about 18 months old. I had some work done on my front right wheel about 18 months ago after a minor collision and the noise maybe related to it. But I had both front wheels checked last week and its not the bearings. Maybe its a new wheel that is needed, but I'm going to have my rear wheels and tyres checked once more before I decide to buy a new wheel. The Saab 17" light alloys are expensive to replace, I'm not looking forward to having to do it if thats the problem.

 

Sorry turbo we call them estates over here. But no its a saloon model.

Ahhh, I see. And now I understand the difference between estate and saloon.

Thanks.

 

I've been wondering about Estate and Saloon for years... may I recommend you check the alignment, all 4 wheels. I had another vehicle (non saab, but still applies) that had a slight toe-out and it rumbled like a bearing was bad. Also, does the vehicle have a vibration? If so, are the wheels properly balanced? Does it go away when turning aroud curves?

 

Worth checking out the Bosch boost valve (the black one right at the top front of the engine when you open the bonnet. It has a hose coming in from the left and then one that goes to the back of the engine.

I thought I had an offside (rhs front from the driving seat) wheel bearing failure - sort of whining sound at about 2300 revs which goes away if you lift off or accelerate. Turns out from the guys on here that it's a stuck valve which causes problems around the filter / intake area. There was no play in the wheel bearing.

There are some posts on here but I can't link because my search is playing up.

 

Thanks for the suggestions GSbuilder. The car doesn't vibrate but the noise is not as bad when turning. I'll definetly look into the alignment of the wheels.

Regarding the boost valve sandstrain, well the noise doesn't go away whatever I do, so it may suggest the wheels are the problem. But thanks for the info and I'm not ruling anything out at this stage.

 

Rumbling noise

My car makes the same rumbling noise in the aerea 2600-3000rpm already more than one year now. I found the source from this sound, it is the midmufler after the cat, there are some loose partitions in it, when i hit this mufler with my fist, you can hear it.

 

Midmuffler/Resonator does sound like a good suggestion, in that case the noise should be replicatable by revving the engine in idle, or you may need to power-brake it (rev while holding brake, do not do this too long, creates increased cyl. pressure and loading due to turbo). Or, while driving at a speed it is most prominant, shift into neutral (careful! NOT reverse) and allow RPM to drop to idle and coast. If the noise goes away, it's probably the cat/resonator/muffler/pipe. If not, it's rotational and in the drivetrain/wheels.

 

Hi GSBuilder, I took the car out for a test tonight and slipped it into neutral when driving, but the rumbling/growling noise did not go away until I was practicaly stopped. However I also tested what it was like going around sharp curves (a couple of roundabouts). I noticed that the noise practically disapeared while driving to the right and was also a bit less noisy while driving to the left. As the noise seems to be coming from the right would I be right in thinking its the front right wheel which is the problem?

 

to be honest, when the noise goes away in a corner, it's almost always the wheel bearing on the inside of the corner (bearing is unloaded when weight transfers to outside). How did he test the bearing? Spinning it and wiggling it aren't always sufficient, sometimes you need to drive it for 20 minutes, then check the bearing temp with an infrared temp gun. If they are close in temp and not smokin hot, I would lean towards a toe problem, and it would need an alignment. What can occur is, while driving straight, the wheels are fighting (toed in), when you enter the curve, the positive Ackerman angle that is built into almost all passenger cars toes the outside tire out slightly in reference to the inside tire. Now, if the noise is from the previously mentioned toe-in, it has been reduced by the Ackerman in the corner, and the noise is reduced, or eliminated. Ackerman is added to increase stability in cornering and to account for the fact that the outside tires have to travel through a wider arc in a corner.

I would REALLY recommend pursuing the wheel bearings first, they are 90% of the time the problem when the noise is decreased in a corner, only occasionally did I see an alignment do it, but it does occur. The rarest of cases is when the spider gears in the differential wear out, usually caused by incorrectly sized tires, but that makes noise most all the time, cornering or not. The temp-test is pretty much guaranteed to tell if the bearings are bad. The only way that would be off is if you have a hung caliper dumping loads of heat into one wheel, heating the bearing, but then you would be turning that direction everytime you let go of the wheel.

 

After reading your post again, if the right front bearing was not replaced after the collision, you're almost guaranteed that that's it.

 

Hi GSBuilder,

The guys who looked at my car are just based out of a small garage. They also fix tyres and I mainly use them for working on my Ford Focus which I use for work. Their honest enough and do a good job, but are not to sophisticated and they don't have any fancy tools. They did however take the car for a test drive and they complained they had troble handling it. I suspect they probably floored it from start which is not recommended if you have never driven an Aero before and I don't find the handling any different to when I bought it.

I had the wheel repaired in a Saab dealership who fixed it, but ever since I've noticed that the wheel sometimes makes a clunky knocking noise when taking a sharp right or when parking and reversing. This noise has occured frequently over the past month or so. The same dealership ripped me off with a service last January and because of it I will have nothing to do with them.

 

Hi everyone. I have just found out whamy noise problem was. I say Was because it has finally gone. I went to a very helpfull guy in an F1 autocentre. It turns out it was my n/s/r tyre. Although there was a lot of tread left on it, the inside quarter of the tread pattern has worn out unevenly. So there were high and lowsection as you went around the circumference of the tyre. He has changed the tyre and it is running as quiet as when she was new. The only problem is what cauused the tyre to wear like that. It is only 18 months and 20,000 miles old???

 

That's called 'cupping' and it can be caused by incorrect alignment, worn suspension components, or defective tires. Excessive rear wheel negative camber is often named as a culprit.

 

Yeah, excessive camber will do that in a heartbeat, get a 4 wheel alignment and suspension inspection, probably have some bad bushings in there

 

The cause of the noise in my car is that the anti-rolling bar is rubbing against my wheels because their big for the lower suspension on the Aero!

The 3 spoke sport 17x7" alloys with 225/45 tyres were on the car when I bought it, I now have to buy four new 16" wheels with 215/55's tyres! Ah well at least I know what the problem is!

 

Wow, thats um... a stupid problem to have. Should have been caught when the wheels were first put on... you could space them, if the ARB is hitting the lip, it wouldn't take more than a washer out to fix. Normally I'm deathly opposed to spacing, but a small amount isn't SO bad.

 

Mitsi, some times the belts in tires break and separate too, causing high and low spots, and when the radial belts break it can physically twist the tread. Hitting potholes can do this.