2005 Subaru Forester Concerning noise with tire rotation

MFVAN02

MEMBER
2005 SUBARU FORESTER
77,000 MILES

I got new tires on my car a couple months ago and shortly afterwards noticed some noises. First, I noticed that I could hear rotation more. I didn't know if it was tire rotation or something in the gears or what, but it was new with the tire change. I remember thinking maybe it had something to do with alignment (even though I now nothing about cars). Then I noticed a scraping sound, almost as if something was scraping against a tire on rotation. The rotation sound has progressed in particular, and it sounds like a "whump" sound with each rotation. The scraping sound occurs intermittently. They both decrease or go away completely with turning, and seem to quiet with braking. I have very limited funds, so any help you can give would be greatly appreciated!

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,741 POSTS

Some tire tread patterns are designed specifically to reduce road noise, some are more aggressive for better wet traction. Your new tires may have a tread pattern where increased road noise was a compromise to achieve some other quality.

The scraping noise is not normal and the shop that installed the tires should be given the chance to check their work. In particular, it is real common on many cars for a metal brake splash shield to inadvertently get bent causing it to rub on the brake rotor. That is not a safety issue but it can be annoying. If that is identified as the cause of the noise, it will take the mechanic longer to walk all the way under the car than to fix the cause. It's just a matter of pulling the shield away from the rotor.

There are a number of other things that can cause similar noises but the common ones get worse when turning. Based on your description, I'm betting on a splash shield.