2004 RX 330 Rear Wheel Bearing Type Noise
 

I have a rear wheel bearing type of noise that appears to come from the rear. My vehicle is front wheel drive and has 135K miles.


I checked the rear wheel bearing/hub assys on both sides and they had no play but I changed them anyway. Noise did not change at all. Rear tires have normal wear, no cupping or anything. Noise gets louder with increasing speed up to a point and then remains a constant level.


My next thought is to check the front wheel bearings/cv joints. Has anyone ever heard of front wheel bearing/CV joint noise that appears to come from the rear?


Anyone have any thoughts as to any other cause for such a noise?


Thanks for your response!

Not sure your real problem is as the noise hasn't been located, but if it did come from rear end, I may check all rear wheel bearings, axle bearings, pinion bearing & central support bearing too as you said noise gets louder with speed increasing.

By the way, check differential oil level at the same time if possible.

Good luck!

Are you sure it's FWD? As it sounds to me too that following things could be most reasonable traces of sound. :confused:

My other RWD vehicle had alike sound when shaft support bearing failed.

loud noise
 

My 2005 rx330 180k miles has loud roaring noise, sounds like rear half of vehicle, starting at 40 mph stops and starts again at 55 mph and stays loud. Rear brakes replaced, not parking pads, replaced rear hubs-bearing assembly, changed differential fluid, and ran different tires, and running with loud noise shifted to neutral, and noise remains the same. Local dealer and local repair had no solution. Any suggestions short of starting to replace carrier bearings, check, then Pinon bearings if needed?

next question
 

Could this be front bearings?

It's your tires. I replaced both my rear wheel bearings on my 04 RX330 AWD, noise went down to acceptable levels. I'd say whirling noise went down 50%. I have about 25% treads left in the rear which are Bridgstone Alenza's. Fronts have 60% on Bridgestone Ecopia's 422. No noise in the front. All road noise are coming from the back. Next set of tire will be Bridgestone Turanza Serenity for a quite and softer ride

I pulled the driver side rear wheel tire off and found a single largest cup flat area, replaced tire and problem solved. Thanks