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Chugging noise from rear of Jetta
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scottyD83
New User
Aug 7, 2010, 2:11 PM
Post #1 of 2
(3795 views)
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Chugging noise from rear of Jetta
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2007 VW Jetta Sedan 2.5L Wolfsburg 42,000 miles
I'm hearing a quite loud chugging sound from the rear of my car that is vehicle speed dependent. It is most noticable around 15-20 mph and then disappears above 30 mph. Around 15-20 mph it happens about 3 or 4 times per second, which seems like it's the same as the wheel rotation speed. I can also feel the chugging/vibration through my seat or the arm rest between the two front seats when it is at it's worst in the 15-20 mph range.
I hit a curb with the rear driver's side wheel while fishtailing in the snow several months ago. Rim was bent, and was replaced, and local repair shop also replaced the driver's side rear wheel bearing. I reused the same tire on the new rim.
I also hit a large pothole with the passenger side wheels not too much longer after the curb incident. No symptoms of any additional problems immediately after that though. Passenger front wheel has a large flat spot on the inside rim probably from this incident, but nothing like that on the rear wheel.
***Since both of those incidents I have rotated the driver's side rear wheel to the passenger side rear location, and vice versa - both rear wheels are still in the rear, but just on the opposite side of the car.
What I have done to investigate:
- Put my full size spare wheel on the passenger side rear (since curbed tire was now on passenger side), and chugging noise was greatly reduced, although I could still hear it but much softer at about the same vehicle speeds.
- Jacked up car and spun both rear tires while elevated, and I did notice high spots/irregular wear on on the tread area of both rear tires as they spun around.
- Jacked up car, took off road wheels, put spare wheel on each side and spun in the air, and it looked pretty good as it spun on both sides.
- Jacked up car, took off road wheels, took off brake caliper and pads, put spare wheel back on without pads and spun in the air to listen for noises - didn't hear anything, and spare wheel spun nice and smoothly and took awhile to come to a stop. It did stop spinning noticably sooner on the passenger side, but I think that is because there is a fresher wheel bearing on the driver's side from when the repair shop fixed me up after the curbing incident.
Right now my assumption is that both rear tires are damaged - one from the curbing incident, and the other from the large pothole. I would really appreciate hearing what you all think about what the problem might be.
Do tires go bad and make noises like this when they are worn our or damaged?
Thanks in advance!
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Sidom
Veteran
/ Moderator
Aug 7, 2010, 4:00 PM
Post #2 of 2
(3788 views)
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Re: Chugging noise from rear of Jetta
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Yes tires can make some strange noises when they go bad.
Just the fact that putting the spare on changed the noise, the 1st thing would be to get some good tires on all the way around and also make sure the rims are ok to and then see if the noise is still there...
It's possible you could also have a bearing going bad but having bad tires on would make it next to impossible to diagnose correctly.....
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