Lude Generation

I've had a noise for a few weeks and I can't figure out what it is. It sounds like a bad wheel bearing but...

I've checked all four wheel bearings and I can't find any play. It's just passed it's MOT and I checked the bearings with a dial gauge and they all look good.

The noise is speed related and gets noisy above 45mph, but isn't direction related, steering left or right, braking or accelerating, the noise doesn't change.

Noise is the same in gear, out-of-gear, clutch in, clutch out.

Gearbox oil level, colour, smell, all good.

Last week I thought it must be the intermediate shaft bearing, so changed it, nope not that.

Could it be the gearbox, or something else?

This is the noise. The sound file gives you an idea, you can mostly hear the bearing noise and me accelerating. You can hear it best between 14 and 18 seconds.

http://paulknowles.co.uk/lude/Bousep.m4a

I had the same noise years ago changed wheel bearings and still the same turned out to be the tyres for some reason maybe borrow an set of wheels an see what happens mate

My money is on tyres.
Some grip patterns just don't seem to suit certain cars/setups. For example, I had similar to you years back and after lots of poking about it turned out to be the Bridgestone Potenza tyres on the back, not liking the camber I guess.
The outer part of the grip would wear uneven, one high block, one low block, so it's obviously like a self perpetuating thing that makes itself worse the more you drive it.

Worth trying a different set of wheels as others have suggested (quick/easy) but yeah, agree with you that is a very bearing sounding noise, so can understand why you think it could be that - and if you haven't changed the tyres recently but the noise has just appeared... Unlikely to be the tyres?

You say it makes no difference whether in/out of gear and clutch in/out but don't say if that's startionary or only when moving? Is the noise there when the car is stationary, engine running? Or only when the car is moving?
If it's not there when stationary, the only thing in the gearbox it could probably be would be something in the diff - that's the only bit not spinning when in neutral and clutch in (albeit all the rest of the clutch drivetrain is just being driven by syncro/no load under those conditions)


It's very common for a noisy wheel bearing to have no discernible play tbh.
If you want to rule out wheel bearings, you'll have to get the car on stands, run it in gear so the front wheels are spinning and then manually stop each wheel to see if the noise goes away. You can do that safely by using a pry bar to move the brake caliper so it applies the pads on one wheel only.
Rear wheels you'll just have to check by manually spinning each one in turn and listening to see if any difference. It's noise you'll need to go on, rather than what you can feel.

After complaining to my garage about having a noise from one of the wheels on the back of my car they eventually diagnosed a "feathered" tyre, I changed it, problem solved.

I was quite pleased that I know my Lude's noises so well that I could detect the sound of an unevenly worn tyre!

It does coincide with a change of tyres. When I get some spare wheels to test I'll report back.
Thanks all

Then that's definitely the place to start

Long time before replying, but I thought I'd update + I would like some advice.

So I didn't fix this. I was convinced the noise was due to tyre wear, so I left it until I needed new tyres.

It wasn't the tyres.

So I had the car up on stands and ran it in gear. Noise still there so definitely coming from the front.
Took the wheels off, ran it in gear, noise still there.

No obvious bearing play. So my question is could this be a bad wheel bearing even without weight on the wheel? (Concerned it could be a gearbox bearing). What do you think?

sounds metalic to me, tyres can have a droning noise but never metalic.

you can check for play in the diff bearings by pushing/pulling the driveshaft straight up/down if you are directly underneath it (eg, you push up towards the bonnet, pull down towards the ground) , any play here will be diff bearings.

check for any play in the CV joints also, grab one components whilst turning the other, you might detect some play here, but since your are putting baby loads on it by hand you might not be able to feel anything that causes noise under load... Good luck in tracking it down!

So it was a bad bearing. With the hub nut tight I couldn't feel any play but without the hub nut it was very wobbly.
The bearing case was cracked.
I changed the bearing this weekend. A job I believe is not for the faint hearted without a hydraulic press. I do not have a hydraulic press, it was not fun. Nevertheless is changed and all is good again.