Fizzboy7

My dad has a 2008 Hyundai Veracruz with 32k miles. For a few months now, a constant humming or droning sound is coming from the front end of the SUV as it gets up to speed on streets and on freeway. At first we all thought it was the tires starting to wear (they are at 50%), but wondered why the noise was the same and never changed when he went over different surfaces. The sound is constant and doesn't fluctuate from asphalt to concrete or street to freeway. It's always on, and louder the faster you go. Because of this, we figured maybe a bearing was bad or something was wrong with the driveline. So he took it to dealership #1 who heard the noise but could not find anything wrong with the mechanics. The tech said it is likely the tires. Not being fully satisfied with that, my dad took it to dealership #2 who also heard the noise. They too stated everything checked out fine. He then took it to his friend/mechanic who also heard the noise and said it could be the tires, but wasn't sure.
So that's where we are at now. If it is the tires, wouldn't the noise vary on different road surfaces?
Just curious for more opinions.

ArmyofOne

Sounds like a Diff, have him check the rear diff and the front diff for leaking seals. My neighbors santa fe blew a rear diff at 35k because the seals were leaking and dripped all the oil out.

caddyowner

I had the same noise that developed on a leased SRX. I replaced the stock Goodyear Eagle tires with Michelins as soon as I knew the Michelins would last until the end of the lease. The noise was gone.

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

Rub your hands across the tread of the tires you can feel irregular wear that you cannot see. Cross rotate the tires front to rear. Set air pressure to stock PSI. Drive on the smoothest road you can find late at night when it's quiet outside. Most mechanics & half of tire shop workers know nothing about tires so they all say buy new tires & it probably will go away so you may throw away good tires.

IS-SV

To me sounds like the symptoms possibly of worn A/T tires. What brand/type of tire?

LiCelsior

iTrader: (32)

yea it sounds like a diff issue but tires are much cheaper.

mmarshall

These suggestions are generally good ones. I agree with most of them.....an I'll add two myself.

First, use a decent tire gauge (you'd be surprised how many of them are crap) and sure that the front/rear tire PSI's are correct and not way off. On a car-based AWD vehicle with a center-differential, if there is a large (or even significant) variation from what the tire PSIs are supposed to be, the left/right and front/rear tires will all rotate at different speeds all the time and make the center differential work pretty hard, generating heat and (possibly) noise. You can get away with that, in some cases, with FWD or RWD, but not with car-based AWD.


Second, make sure that all of the interior climate-control/defroster fans and other accessories (including a problem with the radio or speakers) that could cause a constant humming noise are off. Large, complex SUVs like the Veracruz often have multiple climate-control systems for both left/right and front/rear, and some radios/speakers develop humming noise from certain types of electrical interference.

Fizzboy7

Good responses. I forget which tires came with the vehicle, but I think they are a very mild on-road all-season tread. Probably a Korean brand, since Hyundai's usually stick to Korean tires. I'll check later in the week. And will get under and look for irregular wear. I am pretty sure all three mechanics looked for this. Also, no leaks or defects were found with the diff. They checked out all the mechanicals. At this point, it really does sound like a tire issue, as odd as it is there's no noise variation with road surface.

ArmyofOne

the only other thing i can point you to, but they SHOULD have already checked, are wheel bearings.

Off topic, but this is your other car?


(obv. this one is a model) NICE! haha.

On tires: on a Veracruz, they are either going to be a bridgestone dueler, or a Kumho Solus.

If they are the kumho's, its probably not the tires. The solus's are very quiet. However, my friend's Santa Fe had the dueler's and they were HOWLING by 30k miles.

One sure-fire way to tell, get the vehicle to go from Pavement to gravel. If the noise continues on gravel, it its definitely not the tires.

mmarshall

I think he mentioned that the techs did a bearing check in the opening post.

Bearing noise will often, but not always, get momentarily get louder when side-forces are put on the wheel, as in a turn or with a quick jab of the steering wheel. If the noise gets louder or more pronounced in a turn, that is one sign that it is indeed bearings. If this is the case, I agree with Josh.....take it back and have them re-check them....but bearings should normally last longer than 32K miles. If the techs still can't find anything wrong, have your complaint documented for date and mileage so that if they DO find anything noise-related later, it can be traced to the date you first complained, and it will be easier to make a warranty claim.

DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

The problem could be too much toe-in on the alignment.. When was the last time an alignment was done on the vehicle?

ArmyofOne

or for that matter, tire rotation, Hyundai and KIA SUV's are VERY temperamental when it comes to tire rotation. Those howling bridgestones @ 30k i told you about? They rotated them, noise gone. But I would assume they checked all of this already. I drove a Veracruz not a year ago, and it was very quiet. This almost has to be mechanical, due to the lack of pitch change between road surfaces. If they checked the diffs, bearings and all of that, then they need to start looking deeper, like transmission bearings and inner race bearings at the inside ends of each axle, also the drive shafts. I am not sure if the Veracruz uses a traditional AWD or a car-based AWD with a center diff, but either way, it still has drive shafts, and those shafts still have bearing races at each end.

This is the same exact thing I ran into with the Matrix XR AWD we had...only we went so far as to change tires 2x, and still the noise persisted. It ended up leaving my wife stranded on a state hwy with a seized rear differential. If any wheel stops spinning @ hwy speeds, it could and probably will mean an accident with injuries in an SUV like that. The rear wheels stopped on the matrix and put my wife in a ditch, thankfully, rubber side down. The rear diff had seized and broken the half shafts in the rear, it also did some damage to the transmission. The wheels had only stopped for a second or 2 before the half shafts broke, but it was enough to send her off the road.

That said, if that service center cannot figure it out, go somewhere else. Check everything and anything that spins while the car is moving:

Axles
Brakes
Bearings
Driveline components
transmission and transfer case assemblies...

EVERYTHING.

Fizzboy7

I haven't noticed any change in noise when turning or putting additional load on one tire. It's a very constant sound, at speeds above 30 mph.
I like the gravel idea, but I dont' think I want to send my dad off-roading (just yet).
I am going to ask him about which tires he has and what happened after the last rotation. I think he has them rotated every 5k. I've checked the inner treads and they are not cupped of feathering. About the only other tidbit to this whole thing is he does carry a large amount of tools in back for his business. This adds notable weight, but as mentioned, the noise didn't start up until a few thousand miles ago. He also took all the tools out when he took it to the dealership, and the noise was still present. So we wrote that off as a possibility.
Thanks to all for the input... I'll update whatever pops up.

Fizzboy7

Dude..... you blew me away there! Haha Nice shot! Care to say how you found that?

ArmyofOne

Google is your friend Click on Google Images and search away

any update?