nickbuol Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 Just looking for someone else to keep me on the right path here... 2013 Ford Fusion Titanium with approximately 58K miles (235/45R18 94V tires) Has had what I normally call a "wheel bearing noise" problem for a couple of months coming from one of the rear tires. From the driver seat, it is hard to tell anything beyond it being one of the rear tires. My son-in-law rode in the back seat and thought that it was the rear passenger wheel. So I was going to go get a wheel bearing today and make the swap, but the closest place was out, so I figured that I could just order online and have it shipped. Before I did that, something in my gut said, "jack up the car, check for bearing noise, and if nothing obvious then do a tire rotation and see if the sound stays put." So i did just that. I got what I would call slight brake rotor noise from both rear wheels. The tires are solid when trying to move them left to right and top to bottom. Take the wheel off and turn the hub and it actually sounds more like a very slightly warped rotor than a bad bearing. The would be for both rear hubs. So as I am spinning, I notice that the rear passenger side (again the side that my son-in-law thought was the source of the noise) tire had what I would almost call a "flat spot" on it as it rotated. You couldn't really tell a difference when the tire was sitting stationary, but if you spun it, it was definitely noticeable. So I proceeded with the tire rotation, and sure enough, the noise is no longer in the rear, but seems to be the front driver side, and now I can feel it in the steering and when braking. So bad tire, right? I mean, it seems obvious, but I am just trying to save the diagnosis fee and order tires from TireRack that rate a bit higher than the lowly rated OEM Goodyear Eagle LS-2 tires that are listed almost at the bottom of the barrel of tires for this car. Again, if there are other ideas, those are welcomed as well. If I have to take the car in for someone to look at it first, so be it, but if it is clear that the tires are done, then I would rather put that diagnosis money towards a better quality tire. Thanks. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drolds1 Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 Are they the original tires? If so, congratulations on getting 58K out of OE tires. It certainly seems like the tire is the cause, especially if it's got a visual defect. I'd put the temp. spare on just to make sure. If the noise and shake in the steering wheel go away, you know you've got the cause for sure. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 (edited) The only way I could get close to 58K miles on a tire is if I drove on grass. Continental and Michelin have always been good for me. These Continentals got great ratings on tirerack.com, but I would look to buy them from a local shop. They'll either match or come close to the tirerack price and you'll get better service if something goes wrong. https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Continental&tireModel=PureContact+with+EcoPlus+Technology&partnum=345VR8PUREC&fromSurvey=true Edited October 16, 2017 by akirby 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickbuol Posted October 16, 2017 Author Share Posted October 16, 2017 16 hours ago, drolds1 said: Are they the original tires? If so, congratulations on getting 58K out of OE tires. It certainly seems like the tire is the cause, especially if it's got a visual defect. I'd put the temp. spare on just to make sure. If the noise and shake in the steering wheel go away, you know you've got the cause for sure. We are the 2nd owners of the vehicle and bought it with 38k miles on it. I guess that it is possible that the previous owner replaced the OE tires with more of the same. Good point about putting the spare on. Such a simple, but effective idea. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickbuol Posted October 16, 2017 Author Share Posted October 16, 2017 9 hours ago, akirby said: The only way I could get close to 58K miles on a tire is if I drove on grass. Continental and Michelin have always been good for me. These Continentals got great ratings on tirerack.com, but I would look to buy them from a local shop. They'll either match or come close to the tirerack price and you'll get better service if something goes wrong. https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Continental&tireModel=PureContact+with+EcoPlus+Technology&partnum=345VR8PUREC&fromSurvey=true I was actually looking at General AltiMAX RT43 tires for the fusion. SOOOO much better rated that the OE Goodyears, and about $120 cheaper (due to rebate) than the Continentals that you list, and $215 less than the top rated Pirelli's (all per TireRack's pricing and reviews). I've never owned General brand tires though. I use TireRack to find the tires that I want and then always try to support the local shops. Even if I have to wait to get the tire I want, like you said, many will price match or come close to it, and then you get a little better support later if needed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 Be careful about those ratings - check the number of miles reported. It may be a really small sample. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickbuol Posted October 17, 2017 Author Share Posted October 17, 2017 (edited) 3 hours ago, akirby said: Be careful about those ratings - check the number of miles reported. It may be a really small sample. Yeah, the Continental ones have 759 ratings and 684 reviews - 9,745,942 Total Miles Reported The General ones have 354 ratings and 319 reviews - 3,792,403 Total Miles Reported I've attached the Tire Rack comparison for Grand Touring Tires that they scored #1, #2, and #3, plus the OE Goodyears that were ranked #20 out of 21 total. You can see that these tires all rank a LOT higher than the OE ones. TireRack had a higher rated tire than these, but with zero miles reported, I just removed it. Also, they list 44 total tires in the All Season Tire category, and the rank for the Pirelli, Continental, and General tires stayed the same, and the OE Goodyears dropped even further. LOL I'm not saying "no" to the Continental tires. I just need to get some prices ironed out. General has a rebate right now, and Continental just had a rebate program that ended about 6 weeks ago. So the $$$ spread right now is somewhat substantial. If the rebates were the other way around, then it would be a wash in price. There are some tires with only like 34k miles reported, so I don't put a lot of value in that, and the Continental have 2.5x the number of reported miles than the General ones, but at what point is it "enough" miles to be validated? That is the question. Thanks for getting me thinking more about these. Also, I didn't get a chance to try the spare tire tonight as my wife had the car all evening, and I have been caught up with other work around the house. It is already 11pm, so I am lacking motivation tonight. So tomorrow it will be. Edited October 17, 2017 by nickbuol 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickbuol Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 So I put the spare tire on. Admittedly, spare tires are not designed to be "quiet" so I expected some noise, but the noise was fairly constant and not the "pulsing" sound that I was getting with the O.E. tire. However, I now think that I have 2 issues. 1) The tire is bad, 2) my front rotors are warped a little. With the spare tire on, there was some pulsing sound, but VERY minimal compared to when I had the one particular regular tire on, and braking still had some pulsing too. When I removed the spare tire and put the other back on, the pulsing sound was there whether I was braking or not, and the braking pulsed more, plus I could "feel" the pulsing in the steering wheel with no braking applied. So again, at least 1 bad tire, and probably new rotors (and brake pads even though they are far from worn). I didn't measure the tire tread depth, but they still have a lot of tread on them. We've had the car for about 18 months, so I am guessing that the previous owner already replaced the tires before we got the car and picked out the O.E. tire as replacement. Local places are quoting nearly $900 for 4 of the General Altimax RT43 tires installed, and the price is a solid $1000 to go with the Continentals. That is a lot more than I've ever paid for tires for any vehicle before, including the performance Pirelli tires that I bought for a previous supercharged sporty car that I got rid of about a year ago. Must be a higher price due to the 18" size vs. 17" and 16" of my more recent vehicles. Maybe there are other tires to consider??? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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