Roaring and vibrations around front

Hi guys

Just wondered if anyone knew what this could possibly be, when going above 20mph the car starts to make a low roaring noise and vibrates around the front when you go faster the noise and vibration get more intense. I know it had an advisory of minor leak in exhaust, when car made noise we took it out of fear and coated in neatural to see if it continued and it did

00James00 wrote:Hi guys

Just wondered if anyone knew what this could possibly be, when going above 20mph the car starts to make a low roaring noise and vibrates around the front when you go faster the noise and vibration get more intense. I know it had an advisory of minor leak in exhaust, when car made noise we took it out of fear and coated in neatural to see if it continued and it did

So if the noise continues in neutral at speed and is louder with road speed and not affected by engine speed you will be looking at the drive train. Wheels, tyres, drive shafts, those sort of things.

So when you rev the engine up in neutral and not moving you don't get the sound? Then its not an engine fault and more to do with the forward movement.

Low roaring could be a wheel bearing? It will be side related - unless you have 2 bad wheel bearings

Jack the car up and safely rotate the affected wheel and feel for movement that is not smooth.

Is it possible to capture it on video while coasting in neutral so it can be heard?

You could also check by holding the top of the wheel with one hand on the bottom of the wheel with the other on the top and try to rock the wheel to check for movement.

Like this

Thank you arfur I think your right about a wheel bearing, sorry for my bad spelling, yeah the noise was still there when in neatural and just coasting and is not there when neatural and just revving, looked at a few YouTube videos and noise is very similar to a bad wheel bearing noise, and increases with speed. Will try jacking up and seeing if I can locate which bearing is needing replaced. What's the cost involved with this and is it easier to buy the parts myself and try?

I'll also try and get the sound recorded for you.

00James00 wrote:What's the cost involved with this and is it easier to buy the parts myself and try?

Have a look at this link to Euro Car Parts and enter your reg for the price of a wheel bearing for your car because there are different ones and they vary in price.

You greatest problem will be fitting and removing the bearing from the hub without the correct pressing tools so I would let a garage that has the right tools to do the job if you have not done it before.

If you get yourself a copy of the Haynes manual for the C3 on Amazon it can help you see what is involved in a job and give an idea of the cost from what work (time) needs to be done.

00James00 wrote:I'll also try and get the sound recorded for you.

Thanks, if can help other C3 owners identify the strange sounds they get

So if I was to take the hub along with the new bearing they would do it for me? Would this be costly or a quick job for them and how difficult is the hub to take off? Been meaning to buy a Haynes manual.

What's tools are involved to get to the hub to take it off and get it to garage? Cheers in advance

00James00 wrote:So if I was to take the hub along with the new bearing they would do it for me?

You would have to ask the garage if they would do this for you. Some do, some don't.

00James00 wrote:Would this be costly or a quick job for them and how difficult is the hub to take off?

You remove the road wheel then then hub nut (it can be very tight), and then uncouple the front strut lower mounting and the steering track control coupling which may or may not come off easily.

The whole hub and carrier can be then removed from the car. You may need to gently tap the drive shaft end to release the splines but don't over do it and damage the drive shaft threads.

It can take a while to get it all apart if the nuts are seized.

00James00 wrote:What's tools are involved to get to the hub to take it off and get it to garage? Cheers in advance

Socket set to undo the nuts. Getting the hub nut off can be difficult and a very long extension breaker bar (like this one). Lots of this sort of penetrating fluid can help with suspension nuts and bolts.

Right problem has now been sorted, I was under the impression it was the passenger side wheel bearing but took it to garage and it was drivers side, the spend 3 hours trying to get old bearing out (2 guys!) could hear them banging away at this think for nearly 2 hours straight. Replaced the correct bearing also replaced passenger side tyre with spare as there was a little wobble in it. All this work which included parts cost a mere 70 pound. Now it's time to move onto putting this dust cover back on the passenger light! Haha