What is your question?
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What is your question?
The issue seems to be constant when driving. The noise does not appear to increase with the rate of speed, again, it seems to be tire noise but I found it interesting that both of these 2012s had it. I test drove another 2012 but it did not have this noise. It was difficult to determine if the sound was coming from the front or rear of the car and it does seem to be coming from the tires or drive train. A guy who works on the cars at the one dealership said it could either be tires or wheel bearings. He said he had test drove the car (I drove) and it was fine - no wheel bearing issues. Again, the problem seems to be constant when driving and it was on both cars. The one car had 98,000 miles on it and other had 118,000. The 2012 I drove that had no noise had just over 105,000 miles on it.
What makes this problem better or worse?
Nothing seems to make it better or worse. Again, the noise level does not seem to increase with rate of speed.
How long has your 2012 Subaru Legacy had this problem?
I'm test driving the cars, trying to determine which to buy, so I cannot answer this question.
1 Reply
Hello, the dealership gentleman is accurate: It can be one or more than one of the tires with an abnormal tread wear pattern that causes the noise, or it could be a wheel bearing issue. It takes a careful eye and hand to see and feel a tire tread pattern and determine if it's causing noise or not. High and low spots, or "feathering" is what commonly causes noise. Even the slightest variation on any one of the tires can cause noise -- it's simple physics -- frequency, vibration, and resulting noise due to force of the vehicle and constant rotation on a road surface. Tires can get this way due to a lack of tire rotation during the life of the vehicle, and/or weak shock absorbers, especially on the rear of the vehicle. Wheel bearings can be isolated by having the vehicle lifted and inspecting each wheel for free rotation and noise. This can be a little more difficult and probably needs to be handled by a trained technician. Follow your instinct! If there is noise, don't accept it as "normal"! Good luck!
