Cyclical drone form front end - starts at 90kph, increases as speed goes up

[DucatiST]

Okey dokes, so who out there knows the front-end of these things inside out?

Our MY08 EOS 2.0T has 39000km on it. We bought it with 34000 on it and on the run down the freeway when we bought it 5 months ago I noticed a cyclical drone that starts to be noticeable at about 80 or 90 and increases in pitch, frequency and volume as the speed increases. At 120 it's very noticeable. By 'cyclic' I mean that, at about 100, it drones for about 2 seconds, goes away for 2 secs, drones again for 2 secs, etc etc. As far as my wife and I can estimate, it's coming for the front right corner of the vehicle. Clutch in (it's a manual) at 100kph does not alter the drone. It does seem slightly more pronounced under mild acceleration than coasting, however.

The previous owner had but some Zetum tyres on the car and they, well, leave something to be desired. I thought that replacing them might make the noise go away, but $1200 later and 4 Conti Contact 5's, the damn noise is still there.

The wife of the previous owner had a habit of clouting gutters and apparently chewed up the original rims, hence the new 18" ones. I haven't had the wheel alignment checked, mainly because the car doesn't pull under cruise or braking and seems well behaved.

The tyre suppliers did a crap job at balancing the new boots (how hard can it possibly be..??) and there's a bit of a shimmy between 90 and 110, but it's minor and I don't think it's related to the drone.

So, wheel bearings or outer CV (there's no clicking)? Should a wheel bearing start to misbehave at 40,000k? Something else sinister and horribly expensive?

[Martin]

Unlikely to be wheel bearings or CV's

I recently purchased an Octavia, it had a low frequency resonance at certain speeds
I didn't like the tires so like you I forked out $1200 to get something decent
I told the tyre shop not to do the alignment (the car was only 10 months old)
However, when we got the car up on the hoist both left side tyres show signs of wear due to poor alignment
This surprised me as the car drove and braked true - no indication of a problem at all
So I changed my mind (don't want to scuff my new tyres) and had the wheel alignment done
The resonant noise disappeared after that

[Hillbilly]

Look underneath and see if any plastic cover panels have bolts missing.

Amazing the number of cars I see coming towards me with bits flapping underneath.

[DucatiST]

Unlikely to be wheel bearings or CV's

I recently purchased an Octavia, it had a low frequency resonance at certain speeds
I didn't like the tires so like you I forked out $1200 to get something decent
I told the tyre shop not to do the alignment (the car was only 10 months old)
However, when we got the car up on the hoist both left side tyres show signs of wear due to poor alignment
This surprised me as the car drove and braked true - no indication of a problem at all
So I changed my mind (don't want to scuff my new tyres) and had the wheel alignment done
The resonant noise disappeared after that

Yep, and alignment is next on the list.

Can anyone recommend a good wheel alignment shop in or near Sydney's inner west?