VW Beetle probs again!

[nykkieberry]

I took my car into the garage because it was making a very slight grinding noise from the rear that sounded like a wheel bearing. When I picked it up, the garage told me that the wheel bearings were fine but I needed two new tyres on the back. I drove my car home and the tyre noise was incredible but from the front this time! I rang the garage up and they said the reason the noise had deteriorated was because they had moved the tyres off the back onto the front to establish that it was indeed tyre noise. I took it back in and they moved the tyres back onto the rear (stay with me!) I drove it home and indeed, the sound had moved to the back but it was deafening - much, much worse than before. I don't understand why the noise has deteriorated so much when all they have done is take the tyres off and try them on the front then swapped them back. The rear tyres are 12 month old Dunlops with 4mm tred. Is this a fault with the car, the tyres or just one of those things? Do I need to go back to the garage and say it's not the tyres, or Kwik Fit because the tyres/fiting are faulty or just replace the tyres and the noise will go? THANKS!

[Mortartube]

I would suggest that you initially check that they are inflated to the correct tyre pressures as underinflation can not only cause noise but also tyre damage, especially to the sidewalls (little cracks in the sidewalls are a good indication of this and may result in tyre renewal if it is serious enough). If the pressure is correct, check that the tyres aren't deformed with any carbuncles or odd lumps and bumps. Also check that they aren't twisted on the rims i.e that they are on straight. If all of these checks are okay, I would suggest that you get the garage to check that the wheels are balanced correctly, as you may have lost a wheel balance weight. When the wheels in question were on the front, did you experience any wheel wobble or vibration through the steering wheel at a particular speed? This is often a sign of unbalanced wheels. If you suspect a wheel bearing, jack up the car and rotate the suspect wheel as fast a possible by hand, any grinding should be evident. After all of these checks, there is a remote possibility of wheel damage if you've hit a kerb etc hard. Otherwise I can't help. Good luck

[BadBob]

I know nothing about cars. Anyway do the above but my advice would be to take it to a different garage to get a second opinion. Otherwise you might find they say the same thing so as to not look stupid.

[Ewood27]

What jumps out at me in your question is that the tyres are 12 months old and already down to 4mm of tread. Most tyres start with 8mm, so that's about 20,000 miles worth. Perhaps you do high mileage; perhaps Beetles are extra hard on rear tyres; perhaps your driving style destroys tyres. Or perhaps the car has clouted a kerb and the wheels are not running straight, scrubbing the tyres. That would mean something is a bit bent. I think you should check that out, then perhaps change the tyres anyway. You may be legal with 1.6mm of tread, but when it gets below 3mm the standard of grip falls off. You haven't far to go to that 3mm point. Do the easy cheap things first, of course. Check the inflation, and look round the rims. You may see where a balancing weight has fallen off, leaving a clean spot!