My car was in an accident about a year ago and the handling hasn't been the same since, despite my recent four wheel alignment, tire rotation, and tire balancing. I'm sure going almost a year without getting those things done didn't help matters, but I have another problem now. I have some extremely loud road noise that starts at relatively low speeds and becomes nearly unbearable at highway speeds. It's a consistent grinding noise that seems to go away only while I'm turning left. I was told that it was just uneven tread wear but it's sooo loud, and you can even feel it. The tires have about 20,000 miles on them, plenty of tread depth, and don't look bad in my opinion. Could this noise be related to anything else? If it is only tire related, can I do anything other than replace them?

 

Bearings maybe? d

 

bearing for sure

 

I figured that would make a higher pitch grinding noise, not low like this. You guys sure it's a bearing? Should I have all four of them changed at once? How much should I expect to pay?

 

I replaced my fronts when I replaced my entire front suspension. You need to know what revision bearing you have. Audi made 3 different sizes of bearing, I know this because Audi ordered me all three because they didn't know which one I had (don't ask, I measured,they measured but I guess their system couldn't tell them dimension sizes). I don't think the two were expensive. I think I paid $90 for the pair.

 

Can you tell if the sound is coming from a centralized area? Im no expert on wheels or anything but the noise going away when you turn left definitely sounds key.

 

I wish I could do it myself, but I need it done this week and I won't have enough free time to work on it myself. So how much should I expect to pay a shop for this repair (parts/labor)? Would it make sense to get all four changed or just one pair?

 

Can't really tell where it's coming from, just a loud, low-pitch grinding/humming noise.

 

defently the right bearing

 

Ok, so it IS a wheel bearing. Does anyone know how much to expect to pay a shop to replace the front pair? Or at least how long it should take them to fix it at the very longest? I just want to make sure I'm not getting ripped off.