99 Dodge Stratus Road Noise..Tires or Bearings?

One of our cars is a 99 Stratus with 86K miles. A few weeks ago, my car was
in the shop for the timing belt replacement and I had my wife drive me over
to the shop in this car. I noticed a pretty loud whirring noise coming from
the rear of the car that increased/decreased with speed. I almost sounds
like large lugged truck tires driving down the road but not as loud. I was
thinking the wheel bearing might be going out so I jack up the car yesterday
and there is no movement in either of the wheels with the parking brake off.
I would think that if a bearing was going bad, there should at least be some
minimal movement there.

So then I looked at the tires and on both rear tires, the inner tread groove
had a noticably raised slightly jagged tread pattern compared to the the
other lines of tread in the tire....If a tire was bad, I would think it
would happen on only one tire and not both on the rear, but this was the
same on both tires on the rear. I wouldn't think this is by design. So I
went ahead and rotated the tires..rears on the front on the same side to see
if the sound moved.

I can still hear it and it does sound like it has moved from the rear to the
front and the wife confirms this. So am I still looking at a tire issue or
still a possibility of bearing somewhere? Turning sharply left and right
doesn't seem to make a difference in the noise (noise decreases but probably
just due to slower speed, but doesn't fully go away.)

I guess I'm just puzzled about both rears having the same unususal (at least
to me) wear.

Do you think that the raised inner tread will wear down in time and that is
where the sound is coming from, or do I have a deeper issue?

Looking for any advice as I'm just not finding much on steering/suspension
issues on the 99 Stratus...If there is, could you point me to them??

Thanks,
Mike

 

One other note..these are about 2 year old Kumho tires with abround 30K on
them.

 

I would suggest following the tire scenario first. As you know, these
cars have sealed rear bearings, so the entire until must be replaced
when they go bad.

Since you mentioned some noticeable wear, when was the last time that
you had an alignment done? Since these cars have adjustments on both
the front and rear, it's best to get a "four wheel" alignment done, to
ensure that the rear tires are correctly tracking the front. It costs
around $80, but will ensure that everthing is lined up correctly.

-KM

 

On Mon, 09 Apr 2007 17:00:27 GMT, "Moparmaniac"

What you are describing is called cupping. It can be caused by
inflation issues, alignment issues, lack of rotation or worn
suspension components. Used to be you could have the tires shaved
smooth again but I don't know if anyone still does that. The tires
will not wear back right again... they are pretty much toast at this
point. When you get the new ones make sure the suspension is in good
shape and get a four wheel alignment.

Steve B.

 

I agree with Steve, and will add that this is more of a problem in
general on so-called "hi performance tires" - these tires typically have
large tread blocks rather than smaller ones and lots if siping lines.

Also, this is why it is imperative that you rotate your tires in the
future - every 5000 to 7000 miles without fail. Especially imperative
with the so-called hi performance tires as, like I said, they are much
more prone tho this problem. Also as Steve mentioned, it is important
to keep the alignment in check.

If you change your oil every 3000 or 3500 miles, then rotate the tires
every other oil change. That will even out the irregular wear patterns
before they become irreversible and begin manifesting themselves in this
manner and requiring you to replace your tires early due to irregular
tread wear (i.e., wearing below the wear bars in only a few places) or
unbearable noise.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')