Hey gang....I have noticed a whiring sound around the back of my '73 2.0 that I only hear when near a K rail or a curb or something that reflecks the sound. I am not sure if it is just routine engine noise or an issue? Mostly drivers side. CV's are fairly new. No other symptoms but just driving my analytical mind crazy. Any thoughts? Thank you very much.
gg

Bad bearing is a low frequency grinding noise

i had a whine in mine after i got it up and running after a long period static.

discovered it was the tyres.
i put some micheline XAS on it.
they were very noisy until they broke in a bit.

hard to know. its terrible having an imagination thats always on the lookout.

I always disliked diagnosing wheel bearings if the were not getting pretty loud. The ones that are just making a little noise are hard to isolate & locate.

Wheel bearing noise tends changes with vehicle speed and load.
Faster is typically louder.
Changes in side loading often changes the tone of the noise.
The side with the bad bearing tend to be loudest when under more load.

If while you are along a wall that reflects the sound, you can safely speed up, slow down, swerve slightly right or left, you can start tracking the sound. You may be able to ID the side it is coming from. Or that it is something other than wheel bearings, uneven tire wear can cause road noise.

I had a customers car once that I kept hearing a squealy type noise as I accelerated up a freeway on-ramp that had a brick sound wall along it. It took several trips up the ramp to figure up it was tire noise as they broke loose when the engine came up on boost. It took few more trips up the on-ramp to confirm my diagnosis. Sometime diagnosis can be fun.

Jim

Thank you....no grinding sound anywhere on the car. So the rear bearings sound like a bad front bearing....grind grind grind? Have changed front bearings and grinding sound went away. Hmmm, I wonder what this sound is? I will report back...thank you very much !
gg

When my right rear wheel bearing was bad it sounded more like a howling sound. Turning one direction made it go away- dead giveaway for a bad bearing.

To rule out your tires you could swap the rears with the fronts. If the sound moves, you've found the problem.

Easy way to check is jack up rear wheel. Grab tire and try and move it up and down or side to side. If any movement occurs you have a bad wheel bearing.

drive down the road at speed and move the wheel hard left then hard right and if the sound changes it is a rear wheel bearing

I am thinking we have a bad rear wheel bearing in our 1975 914/4. The PO informed me of a bad bearing and gave me a new one. Often the drivers side rear wheel makes some noise, it increases with load and reduces when coasting. I cannot feel any looseness or weird noises when on the lift. It looks straight forward to replace them.