Ticking sound: wheel bearings...? - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

rassi · 13th May 2009, 10:36

A few other threads have described a ticking sound, and concluded that it is most likely wheel bearings. I have the same sound, a bit like if a stone was stuck in the tyre and gets worse (almost like a groaning power-steering pump) when in a hard corner - to those that had wheel bearings replaced, is this consistent with your symptoms?

Also, I get a rumbling sound that I noticed when I changed from winter to summer tyres. The fronts are Michelin PS (originals) with about 4 mm left (after 50.000 km!!!) and the rear PS2 with about 4 mm too (30.000 km!!) - would the wheel bearing be the culprit for this rumbling sound, or is it not more likely to be the PS that I understand start to rumble when worn?

andy777 · 13th May 2009, 12:36

I thought wheel bearing made a whining noise when they were going bad.

Need4Spd · 13th May 2009, 22:17

Worn tires often make rumbling sounds, which can easily be mistaken for bad wheel bearings. Jack up and support the car so that the front wheels are off the ground. Spin the wheels and pull on them to see if there is any roughness or play. If not, I would look elsewhere for the problem.

gbogh3 · 14th May 2009, 18:53

last time I had a ticking sound on the wheels, it was a lug nut. I had just had the wheels rotated, so it was pretty easy to find.

good luck

KLehmann · 15th May 2009, 01:13

Rumbling sound that appears when switching tires is likely the tires. But I will say that sometimes different tires will communicate problems to you better. On a previous AWD car I had, the winter tires did a nice job of masking the drivetrain lash that was always there for as long as i'd owned the car (9 yrs). Still, well-worn tires that have seen some hard use can rumble. I've had some nasty noisy tires (old generation Yokohama A032R Rcompounds) on my 911 that were so rumbly and noisy I thought there was something wrong with my transmission. I put on my other set of track tires and presto-change-o the transmission was fixed!!

Wheel bearings commonly do not click when they need replacement. They do typically groan like you mention. How many miles do you have on them (I assume they're the originals)? If you're in the 70,000 mile range, that's when they are commonly going bad on these M5s. Need4Spd's advice on how to check is spot on. You need to do some diagnosing/testing to confirm your suspicion of the wheel bearings.