xc70 vibration from front left wheel

farmerphil · Post by **farmerphil** » 11 May 2015, 00:22

Hi new to this site ,and new to volvos firstly I bought my wife a xc90 awd manual two months ago and all I can say its been fantastic ,we do run other makes of car and as we live down a dirt track most low down road cars dont last long .So after the xc90 a old merc which we had owned for three years started to show its age I looked at the xc70 d5 auto ,a lot of these cars seamed ok and after a bit of research I purchased a 2005 xc70 cross country ocean with 139k on the clock ,the test drive was only about five miles and in traffic ,only problem no service history the guy selling the car stated that it would be some where as it had only just come from the auction ,he tried to get some conformation from Volvo but with out any joy he even tried to speak to the previous owner and gave me his phone number .
After some haggling a price was agreed and I collected the car yesterday ,well all was fine at low speeds but once I reached 50 miles an hour a droning noise seamed to come from the front left side which at speed got quieter if you turned to the right and I only mean slightly if you turned to the left it got worse ,on getting home I thought I would try to phone the previous owner and I was in look ,he stated that the car had been looked after by a local garage to him and that all the service intervals had been adhered to ( timing belt ,gear box oil change ,etc) .The car had been driven by his wife and the last time he drove the car he had noticed this noise ,but it had no effect on the driving of the car he stated that he took it to his local garage and they stated the gear box could have a problem .
Considering that I drove the car over 170 miles with no problems from the gear box and the noise is constant and gets less on a right hand turn I would think it is the wheel bearing ,I would much appreciate your thoughts on this .

Post by **abscate** » 11 May 2015, 08:08

Wheel bearing, indeed. The tip off is the change in noise as you change the load by turning the wheel. A transmission or differential won't make that change.

It's about a 100 uSD part, and perhaps 3 hours to put in. You need some good sockets for the four bearing to carrier bolts

You can probably drive this for another 10000 miles like this with no problem. The bearings are incredibly overengineered. I drove on my growler for 6 months 10000 miles

Post by **oragex** » 11 May 2015, 08:18

Could be a wheel bearing, have it checked by a garage - the brake caliper needs removed

But first I would make sure the tire is properly inflated, it's not too worn, and there is no loose in the suspension/direction. I had the exact same behavior, and went replacing a good wheel bearing. It was the tire that was causing the noise.

Post by **GBS** » 11 May 2015, 10:41

This sounds like the same sound we had on our XC90, it was definitely the bearing. I ignored it for a while but noticed big increase in tire wear on that wheel. XC90 ate thru tires anyways but was certainly seemed accelerated on a bad bearing, if its coincidence or not I'm not sure but I'm replacing mine immediately if I'd notice it again.

farmerphil · Post by **farmerphil** » 12 May 2015, 00:40

Thanks to you all for your advice ,I have been to one or two local Volvo specialists who have confirmed that it is most likely a wheel bearing ,as the coil spring is broken on the same side it will be easier just to get stuck in and do the bearing as well .

Post by **abscate** » 12 May 2015, 14:17

you can eliminate tire as suspect by swapping front/back and seeing if the noise changes.

You could also jack up the wheels and see if it goes away - but I guess on a AWD car you need to do all four corners.

farmerphil · Post by **farmerphil** » 14 May 2015, 16:31

You were all right ,but not one but both sides and discs ,pads .coil spring ,drop links drive shaft boot and a full service ,now the car drives as it should many thanks