Mysterious Noise - like a flat tyre

[ClareBear701]

Hi,

New to the forum and looking for ideas on a mysterious noise that my 500 1.2 lounge has developed.

It only seems to happen on longish runs - 40 mins plus and usually on motorways/A1 roads but that is probably just a consequence on the longer journeys.

It sounds like the start of a flat tyre - that thudding noise you get which gets gradually louder and quicker . The only solution is to pull over wait a few moments and then drive off and it seems to be ok. Sometimes it recurs but again can be resolved by pulling over. I can't be sure if the noice continues once the car is stationery - I have always turned off the engine as quickly as possible as it sounds horrible!

Have taken it to the garage once and they blamed a loose air filter.

Has anyone else experienced this - got a solution?

ClareBear

 

[levemircento]

have you used any "tyre weld" or equivalent in any tyre recently?

I had something simlar a few years ago, and all was revealed when I came to have my wheels balanced one day, when the wheel was on the balancing machine the point where the wheel weights were put on kept moving, he had to keep respinning it, fella was confused why it would not balance so he removed the tyre - and inside was a lump of "stuff" that was in fact remains of tyre weld that had gathered together and was bobbing around inside the tyre

 

[Eklipze3k]

Can you identify (as it sounds to me like air filter is a bunch of, well, you know) which corner of the car the noise is coming from? It could be a bearing on the way out (not likely given the age of the car) maybe a stuck brake pad/shoe or as simple as a stone stuck in behind a caliper.

 

[ChrisUK]

The thing is the state of these roads can really effect the life of a bearing. I've just replaced one on my punto after hitting a pot hole. Was a really sharpe thud and it didn't damage anything other than the bearing(luckily).

Just take it to any semi decent independent garage (or even a Hi-Q, National) and they can check for wheel bearing failing easy and quickly.