Not Sure What Happened

I took my Taco in for a balance/tire-rotation. Tires hadn't been rotated for couples cycles, meaning about 10k-15k miles. When I got the truck back, the road noise was terrible. So loud compared to what it was when I took it in, I couldn't believe it. From within the cab, you would have thought that I had huge knobby tires on it or something. I felt around the tires and didn't feel or see any cupping or any tread irregularities.

Here's why I'm scratching my head. I took the truck back and had the tires rotated back to the original position and I still have the issue. I know for a fact the tires were rotated properly both times, as I had them marked. The only thing different now is that the tires were re-balanced from the original time before I took it in.

The road noise sound, sometimes, seems to vary, meaning at 35-MPH it's really bad, although at all speeds it's noticeable. It's may quiet down a bit up to 50 (although still much louder than before I took it), then at 60 and above, get much noisier again.

I'm really confused at to what could have happened. Like I said, nothing was wrong when I took it in for maint/service.

 

Road noise or vibrations?

You won't see cupping or wear immediately.

If its a 'vibration' then you probably have a tire/wheel that's not balanced properly.

Also, check the air pressure. Probably not the issue, but I've ran into stranger things before.

 

You may need an alignment, that can cause a lot of road noise if it is out of whack.

 

Did they change the air pressure when they did the first rotation?

 

x3. Check the pressure first.

 

I did check the air pressure. It was not changed. I don't believe I need an alignment, as I'm not pulling in either direction. It's tracking nice and straight, before and after the service.

I guess what confuses me the most is that it was fine, perfect, when I took it in. Now, it's noisy when moving on the road. It doesn't matter what the road surface is made of. It's almost like they did something to something else that's causing the issue.

Some ask about a vibration. I don't think I'd consider it to be a vibration. Like I said, the best way to describe it is if you have some big-a** knobby tires on there going down the road.

 

are all your wheels nuts torque??

 

How did they rotate them, front to back? It almost sounds like they crossed them over so now they are rotating in opposite direction from before tire rotation.

 

Lug nuts are fine and rotated front to back.

 

Your truck can still track straight with a bad alignment.

 

I've seen this issue on other truck blogs. Some folks say the noise goes away after a hundred miles or so.

 

If rotated front to back then alignment may be slightly off and the tires bedded in. Now that tires are rotated, they are not bedded and will make noise until they are. Are the tires worn completely even?

I rotate my tires every 10k (every other oil change), and get an alignment.

Without knowing service history or seeing the tires it's just guessing.

 

I'm guessing it a coincidence and your needle bearing is going

 

As mentioned, they were rotated back after 50 miles or so and still have the issue.

 

Interesting. What is that?

 

Not sure what kind of tires you're running, but I had a jeep with 37/12.50 Pro Comp Xtreme mud terrains and they would scream after a rotation. They always calmed back down to normal (still pretty loud) after a week or so.

 

Just for curiosity jack the front tires off the ground, grab tire at 12:00 and 6:00 and try to rock front to back any movement is a wheel bearing problem. Wheel bearings will give the noise your describing as well.

 

I've been using the same type tires forever and I most always have them rotated at 5k-miles and I've never experienced this before. After reading other threads and hearing from folks here, I'm starting to fear that it's something more complicated that's causing the issue and the fact that it happened right as my tires were rotated is a coincidence.

 

You mentioned the air pressure is the same.... What air pressure are you running? How often do you check it??

Are all 4 tires making the noise? Or only 1? Which one?

Could the noise be coming from your brakes? Do you have dirt/debris stuck in your brakes??

 

do not worry about this, the tires will wear in and the excessive noise will go away. All you did was expose new wear surfaces.

Howard