Is this normal after a neglegted tire rotation? (VIDEO)

Gageraid · **Posted:** Sun Dec 30, 2012 4:10 am

Finally rotated my tires, but not proud to say it has been at least over 11K since it has been last done. This is the first one I have done and not sure if the previous owner ever did, either. Original factory tires. 41K miles on the odometer.
The noise sounds exactly like as if I increased my tire size. It is most distinct at 25 mph, and 50 mph, and also when coasting down from those speeds. The tires still look to be in perfect condition with no abnormal wear.
Here's the kicker... the day I rotated the tires, I took it for a test drive and long story short ended up in a ditch and lightly brushed my front passenger and rear passenger side rim. I had music on so I can't say if the sound was there before this little accident.
What do you guys think? I'm hoping the noise is just from the new tire rotation and hopefully will go away after 1K miles or so. I also haven't noticed any pulling at all and I'm almost positive it's driving even more straight than before.

Ted15 · **Posted:** Sun Dec 30, 2012 9:56 am

Gageraid wrote:

Finally rotated my tires, but not proud to say it has been at least over 11K since it has been last done. This is the first one I have done and not sure if the previous owner ever did, either. Original factory tires. 41K miles on the odometer.
The noise sounds exactly like as if I increased my tire size. It is most distinct at 25 mph, and 50 mph, and also when coasting down from those speeds. The tires still look to be in perfect condition with no abnormal wear.
Here's the kicker... the day I rotated the tires, I took it for a test drive and long story short ended up in a ditch and lightly brushed my front passenger and rear passenger side rim. I had music on so I can't say if the sound was there before this little accident.
What do you guys think? I'm hoping the noise is just from the new tire rotation and hopefully will go away after 1K miles or so. I also haven't noticed any pulling at all and I'm almost positive it's driving even more straight than before.

It's most likely the torque converter. I got rid of a set of tires and was about to do it again when I narrowed it down to the transmission. There was a vibration that felt like a flat tire. It has since stopped (weird) for reasons unknown. The service writer/rep dude at the dealer told me that this is a common problem with this model and that I should bring it in before there is permanent damage. It stopped doing it within a few days of that conversation.

tommudd · **Posted:** Sun Dec 30, 2012 10:45 am

Tire rotation will cause a different sound in the tires especially if you haven't swapped them around for a while.
Not saying its not the trans but tires will get set in a wear pattern, and when swapped around will be running on different " edges" of the tire resulting in different sounds
I can tell when its time to rotate mine just from the sound, of course I do mine every 3500-4000 miles

Gageraid · **Posted:** Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:13 pm

Ted15 wrote:

Gageraid wrote:

Finally rotated my tires, but not proud to say it has been at least over 11K since it has been last done. This is the first one I have done and not sure if the previous owner ever did, either. Original factory tires. 41K miles on the odometer.
The noise sounds exactly like as if I increased my tire size. It is most distinct at 25 mph, and 50 mph, and also when coasting down from those speeds. The tires still look to be in perfect condition with no abnormal wear.
Here's the kicker... the day I rotated the tires, I took it for a test drive and long story short ended up in a ditch and lightly brushed my front passenger and rear passenger side rim. I had music on so I can't say if the sound was there before this little accident.
What do you guys think? I'm hoping the noise is just from the new tire rotation and hopefully will go away after 1K miles or so. I also haven't noticed any pulling at all and I'm almost positive it's driving even more straight than before.

It's most likely the torque converter. I got rid of a set of tires and was about to do it again when I narrowed it down to the transmission. There was a vibration that felt like a flat tire. It has since stopped (weird) for reasons unknown. The service writer/rep dude at the dealer told me that this is a common problem with this model and that I should bring it in before there is permanent damage. It stopped doing it within a few days of that conversation.

I don't think it's the torque converter, I know exactly the sound you're speaking of, though. I usually only get that torque converter BS sound when in overdrive approaching a hill.

Gageraid · **Posted:** Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:15 pm

tommudd wrote:

Tire rotation will cause a different sound in the tires especially if you haven't swapped them around for a while.
Not saying its not the trans but tires will get set in a wear pattern, and when swapped around will be running on different " edges" of the tire resulting in different sounds
I can tell when its time to rotate mine just from the sound, of course I do mine every 3500-4000 miles

So it sounds like it might be my tires from finally running on a different pattern? I hope it's just this since it's probably been forever since they've been rotated. I'm just a little scared since I had that little mishap the same day as the rotation so I'm being very critical.

Gageraid · **Posted:** Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:25 pm

Pretty sure I found the problem, guys! I jacked her up to see if there was any play in the bearings, everything is nice and tight. Then I was looking closely at my wheels and noticing the wheel weights, I'm completely missing the one on my passenger side rear!
I'll try to take it in to the shop tomorrow and get it fixed. Hopefully that's it.

At The Helm · **Posted:** Sun Dec 30, 2012 4:49 pm

Gageraid wrote:

Pretty sure I found the problem, guys! I jacked her up to see if there was any play in the bearings, everything is nice and tight. Then I was looking closely at my wheels and noticing the wheel weights, I'm completely missing the one on my passenger side rear!
I'll try to take it in to the shop tomorrow and get it fixed. Hopefully that's it.

If your tires are out of balance you'd probably feel them (or one) shaking at highway speed.

Scar0 · **Posted:** Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:05 am

Just curious, how did you rotate them. Front to back, same side?

Gageraid · **Posted:** Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:58 am

Scar0 wrote:

Just curious, how did you rotate them. Front to back, same side?

The way it says in the manual.

Scar0 · **Posted:** Mon Dec 31, 2012 10:28 am

That may be the cause of the increased tire noise. The tread wears one direction more then the other. ie the rear of the tread pattern usually wears quicker then the front.
By rotating RR to RF, RF to LR, LR to LF, LF to RR. the front tires which were rotating in one direction are now rotating in the opposite direction on the road. Because of the wear pattern on the tread this usually causes more road noise. Especially with the miles you had on them before rotation.
As a little test, move the RR to LR and LR to RR, see if the noise is less.

TurboGoKart · **Posted:** Mon Dec 31, 2012 3:14 pm

Gageraid wrote:

Scar0 wrote:

Just curious, how did you rotate them. Front to back, same side?

The way it says in the manual.

Which is what exactly?

Gageraid · **Posted:** Mon Dec 31, 2012 4:18 pm

Passenger front to driver rear, driver front to passenger rear, rear tires are moved straight up to the front.

Gageraid · **Posted:** Sat Jan 12, 2013 12:52 pm

Okay. Back from the shop and have some interesting things to share.

Went in for my appointment for the front passenger side bearings and alignment. They wanted to take it for another test drive before they did it. Back from test drive #1 of the the visit, the mechanic says, "It's not the bearings, I think it's the tires."

They put on BRAND NEW front tires, Wrangler STs, then I went for test drive #2 with him to see if that changed anything and it DID NOT.

Next was they thought maybe it was the front drive shaft. Removed it and went on test drive #3. The noise is STILL there. Connected everything back up and back to the shop we went.

Time for the alignment. It was pretty out of whack, maybe because it had not been done for a long time, or maybe my wheel spacers have something to do with it, but test drive #4, the noise is STILL there.

They said come back another day when the roads are drier and they can attach "ears" on specific parts to see if we can isolate the noise while driving.

Any thoughts, Jeep Gods?

Gageraid · **Posted:** Sun Jan 13, 2013 5:55 pm

Replaced lug nuts this morning since they were in rough shape. Seems to h ave quieted down the sound a little bit. Still looking for some input. :ALONE:

TurboGoKart · **Posted:** Sun Jan 13, 2013 6:02 pm

At normal driving speeds, does the noise slightly increase if you do a somewhat harder curve to the left or right? I'm thinking wheel bearing. Especially since pretty much everything else is either new or has been adjusted.

How new are your pads and more importantly rotors? Wondering if they're possibly warped, but you'd notice that more in the steering wheel when braking.

Gageraid · **Posted:** Sun Jan 13, 2013 6:14 pm

TurboGoKart wrote:

At normal driving speeds, does the noise slightly increase if you do a somewhat harder curve to the left or right? I'm thinking wheel bearing. Especially since pretty much everything else is either new or has been adjusted.

How new are your pads and more importantly rotors? Wondering if they're possibly warped, but you'd notice that more in the steering wheel when braking.

I've been trying to get some numbers at which speeds it's the loudest. For sure it's at 20 mph. I'm not noticing any extra noises turning. My rotors look better than new on all 4.

Worse case scenario the noise gets worse and easier to isolate. :banghead:

Gageraid · **Posted:** Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:52 am

This is driving me nuts! It's frustrating because I can't isolate where it's exactly coming from. Thinking about calling my friend up to have him listen to it when I drive by him. :5SHOTS:

Scar0 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 14, 2013 3:15 pm

Did you try putting everything back the way it was before the tire rotation? All tires back to the original locations?

Gageraid · **Posted:** Mon Jan 14, 2013 7:21 pm

Scar0 wrote:

Did you try putting everything back the way it was before the tire rotation? All tires back to the original locations?

That's the only thing I haven't done yet. Maybe I'll do that on my day off tomorrow. We did try at the shop moving the front to the back and back to the front, even tried brand new tires on the front and the noise is still there.

Scar0 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 15, 2013 3:10 am

If the only thing that originally changed was the tire location, one would think it had to do with that.
While you are working on switching it all back, check your wheel spacers are good and tight, and there is no debris behind them.

Is this normal after a neglegted tire rotation? (VIDEO)

Who is online