Hello everyone,
Lately I've been noticing more road noise coming from the car at all speeds - but
most noticeable at around 60-65mph. It hard to describe in words, but sounds sort of like a low end rumble you'd hear when you drive on rougher highway pavements. While the car was on the highway, I put the car in neutral and noticed the sound was still there - so I'm ruling out the engine and exhaust. Any guesses would be much appreciated.

it turns out to be the bearings. thanks so much for your help and input.
just wondering, how much can i expect to pay to repair the bearings?

On my 850 I paid about $150 for labor and $100 for part a couple years ago for one side. I just had one done on my Ford which has a somewhat similar arrangement and it was $260 (part + labor). These were done by the same independent shop. They are probably in the lower range.

If you want to do it yourself, my tech said it wasn't difficult but was time consuming. Sometimes it is hard to separate the bearing hub out of the drive shaft. You would most likely need a press or tool for that.

i had a honda that made a rumble and tracked funny on the highway, but was relatively normal in the city. the dealer told me I had a bent frame, the frame shop told me it was straight, i went back to the dealer to say WTF?!! the dealer got his "top technician" to look at it... he says, bad tires and a bad bearing that was likely aggravated by the tire with a failing belt. and then he gives the rookie tech a good shine and some greif about being over eager and over ego'd and next time he'd better ask for another opinion.

anyhow, the moral of my story was a great bit of worry and headache but...

in my case the rumble at speed was caused by a tire with a failing steel belt. an internal thing that sometimes happens i guess. when i got the tire swapped under warranty the guy at the tire shop showed me how the tire would balance at low speed but start to wobbla and freak at higher speeds.

check the tires too,
good luck

-woodsytf
1995 850 wagon
156k

You may have a CV joint going bad.

It may be one or more bad wheel bearings, since it seems to be related to the road speed. My experience with bad bearings is that they can make more noise at a certain speed, and the noise can come and go. Does the noise change if you steer left or right, or if you speed up or coast, or lightly ride the brake? All of these things should change the load on the bearings so the sound might change.

A bad tire is also possible as the other post says. I would look at each tire to see if it has an unusual wear pattern. You could rotate the front tires to rear and vice versa - if a tire noise its character is likely to change with this.

Road noise usually originates in the tires, due to them being in contact with the road and all. If they are out of balance, cheap-o, or just worn out, they can make noise. Other than that, bad suspension parts can transmit road noise. Hard to diagnose specifically without seeing/hearing it.

Nate
--
1997 850, 1979 242GT, 1990 740GL