Used to have a 96 Jeep Grand Cherokee that had a rear end that was noisey. There was constant what sounded like bearing noise at most speeds over 30 mph. I had bearings changed, put in synthetic oil and the sound did not change. Finally I talked to a Jeep wrench and he said that all 96 rear ends were noisey and all had that bearing noise. It was not something that I need to worry about, it just was the nature of that beast.

I have a similar noise in my 07 roadster. I got this thing with 10K on the clock and was not paying attention to details, I was just happy to be driving it. Now after 8 months in the saddle I notice little stuff, and one little thing is that what sounds like bearing noise or rear end gear noise. It is most noticible on a very smooth road portion, and seems to get worse as I apply the brakes. I'm not getting any indications of heat on either rear wheel. I just got back from a trip to Indiana without a hiccup.

Wondering if anyone else gets this gear noise from the back of their roadster, or if your rolling on smooth asphault is totally without the sound of bad bearings or a rear end with gears cut that make noise. Any experiences with bearing noise I would be interested in learning what happens in your roadster...

Thanks..

 

This might sound like a dumb question but are you sure it's not tire noise? Some low profile high performance tires get a little loud as the tread wears.

 

You may be right. This is the first set of low profile tires that I have been exposed to. They have 15000 miles on them now. I'll have to measure the tread depth and see what it should be new. These tires are hard as a rock and I can feel every variation in the pavement. Some of those weather damaged stretches of road down into Kentucky and Tennessee it felt like surely something would break. So you may be right on the tires causing the roaring, especially when I am coming to a stop or slowing down to turn. When I am running down the road at 80 I do not notice any of that noise. I do however have an imbalance on at least one tire that causes about a 3 second pulsed vibration. I can see the passenger seat quiver. Wonder if there are tires that are quieter than these Continentals that were OEM.

 

popeye, does it change when you leave asphalt to concrete...our roadsters are very noisy w/ the tops up....my only complaint...a lot of road noise on concrete...not so bad on asphalt, now w/ the top down, you can't hear anything, literally...seriously though, no one I know about has had any issues w/ the rear ends...

 

Oh yes, big change in road noise. It was especially apparent when I arrived in Florida from Georgia on I-75. It was like really quiet compared to the ride from Macon to the Georgia border. I thought to myself good to be home. It is a good place to get on it, the road is not affected by frost and is in very good shape. So to answer your question there is definitely a noise difference on different types of pavement...

 

Maybe this whole noise thing is just the nature of the beast. I do have a wheel imbalance somewhere that I need to look after, but except for trips I never go 80 mph. None of these noises affect the way the roadster drives so I guess I learned something here. Thanks...