Low whistle from rear of car (vehicle, brakes, tires, exhaust)
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I have a low whistling sound coming from the rear driver’s side of my 98 Altima. I’m stumped and wondering if anyone has ideas.
What I know: It’s louder and more constant when it's wet out - rain brings it on every time. The car has to be moving. Pitch does not change with speed. Gets more constant with speed, so, at very slow speeds it’s intermittent, but then quickly blends into a continuous whistle. Possibly louder at speed since I can hear on the highway, but pitch is the same. It’s been doing this for about a year and a half.
I tried rotating the tires and greasing the read drum brake pad contact points, but no change. I thought bearing, but would water cause the bearing to make noise? Also, not a grrrrrrr sound at all and there's no play in the wheel. Does anyone have ideas or suggestions about how to further troubleshoot? Thanks!
Your description leads me to think it could be an air/wind noise/leak. Perhaps on at the rear of the driver's door, or the rear door? Your desriptors of "whistle," "continuous/possibly louder at highway speeds" are classic indicators of that issue.
Check your weatherstrips to make sure they are tightly sealing against the door and that the window run channels are properly aligned, and not catching wind rush as the vehicle travels. To check the weather strips, roll down the window and open the door. Place dollar on the weather strip and close the door on it. Then pull the dollar out with the door closed. Should have a fair amount of resistance. Go along the weather strip and retest. Or, another method is to apply baby powder to the weather strip. Close the door then open it. You'll see where the door makes a good seal and where it maybe doesn't. Might be as simple as adjusting your door striker inwards slightly.
On the outside of the vehicle, make sure all the moldings, run channel, appliques are in proper position, not sticking up into airflow causing the whistle. You can apply masking tape over any suspect areas and take it for a test drive to determine if that was the cause. A bit of thumb grade sealer or RTV will fill whatever void you might find responsible.
Just can't figure how the water would contribute.
BTW.. by "whistle".. I'm defining that as same a human or teapot would sound. If that's your sound, it's not going to be mechanical such as a hub (grinding/roaring) metal contact points (squeal/grind)
Wheel bearings are affected by weather. I've had bearings become louder when cold/hot out, or wet. Not sure the reason why, but sure as hell there would be a difference.
Do you have a buddy that can tag along and hang out in the rear seat and at least try to identify a side or location? Can you lower the rear seatbacks and have him stick his head in the trunk and listen?
Usually the way I ID bad wheel bearings (when i want to be 100% sure) is to yank the wheel and rotor/drum, grab the hub and spin it. A bad beading usually feels rough. I've had bad bearings that have had ZERO wobble at all, so other than noise and a roughness, you would never know they were bad.
Whistle does throw me off. Seeing as you are savvy enough to maintain brakes, i would think your description would be accurate then. Are you sure it's not a broken rear door weather seal and what you hear is wind noise? same for the trunk seal?
Thanks for the replies. I realize left something out. The noise is there when I'm going really slow - too slow for wind, I think. Definitely makes it at 5 mph. On rainy days only stops just before I come to a stop.
Can you go to an open parking lot and see if it makes the noise when going in reverse as well? If it does, that would probably eliminate anything whistling due to the wind going forward.
Could be a worn brake pad indicator. I had a similar sound and reading the owners manual told me it could be a brake pad wear indicator. Took it in and the brakes were indeed near time for replacing.
You didn't run over anyone recently did you. They may be trying to get your attention.
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