Looking for help with noise from car

So 2 months ago I picked up my 2011 3.6R with 44k on it. I noticed shortly after driving it that at 55mph I get a humming sound from the front end. 53mph no noise....59 mph no noise. The sound is something similare to closing your mouth and humming, you can feel a slight hum through the pedal and steering wheel, but more the pedal. I put it in manual mode, it does not matter what gear. It seems worse when its warm out or been driven for awhile. I only drive 15 miles each way per day. I took it to the dealership I bought it at(non subaru) and their mechanic rode with and said wheel bearing, I agreed with that and he ordered the part. When he took the car he hooked up some machine to detect sound under the car and he said he no longer thought it was a wheel bearing, but that it sounded more like a propeller bearing??...anyways he told me to take it to Subaru and it was under warranty. Subaru drove it said no its not that, their mechanic said he felt it in the seat of his pants and that it was in the steering column. I strongly disagreed as I never felt it there. They got the car up in the air and said I had a faulty Lower control arm on the passenger side and they replaced it as well as a new steering column. They called me back and said they also found a loose wheel bearing in the REAR and they replaced that. I picked the car back up after a week, and it still makes the noise. I thought maybe tires, they are uniroyal tiger paws that are pretty much brand new. I rotated the tires and it still makes the noise. I want to take it back to them but I am just frustrated at this point. Its loud enough to notice even with the radio on, plus you can feel it. Any ideas to look at would be great. Sorry for the novel.

 

Check your tire pressure. Also, do you have all-season tires or summer tires. The summer tires on my STI are loud as hell on the cold pavement.

 

The tires are All season touring tires, very soft. I know my WRX summer tires were loud as well. It doesn't seem to be anything close to that sound, and its only at the speed range of about 54-58. Does not matter if I am accelerating or decelerating. Sometimes I here it slightly at 40mph ish for a second. But it could be my ears trying to hard to hear things. Plus like I said it seems to be worse when warmer out. Like the other day when it was 68 out. I heard it more than today.

 

My previous FXT had the same sound but it happened at 68-70 mph. Any other speed, the sound goes away. Unfortunately, I never found out what caused it so don't have any advice to help you out. Good luck but at least you're getting lots of things done to it under warranty.

 

Yeah it's been frustrating, but they keep throwing parts at it. On the work order it looks like they also replaced an exhaust gasket, but i have no idea why or where.

 

Wheel bearing, the new legacy has the same part number as the previous generation, which was a PILE OF JUNK bearing. Front bearing.

 

I feel like this is very possble. It some how feels drivetrain related. I will dig around for information on this. Anyone know what I should look for on the car to see if this could be the problem?

I do agree that wheel bearing is also a possible cause. Like I said they did replace the rear, so I would ASSUME, they looked over all of them to make sure. My only thing stopping me from just replacing that myself is the fact that it only makes that noise in a specific speed range. At 90 mph there is no additional noise, nor 80 or 70.

 

This sounds very similar to the humming some of the early WRXs had where the rear diff acts like a tuning fork and would only cause a humming noise at 60-65 mph. Very odd.

 

You drive a Mercedes now? You weren't by chance getting on to 94 Eastbound Saturday afternoon from Century at 100mph were you?

 

Negative, I rarely stray from 494/94w.

 

So I do not usually voice a harsh opinion on the interweb, but here I go. So I made an appointment to bring my car into White Bear Subaru( I was warned but they did the original work on it) I called the Service Manager and asked for him to join me for a ride. I told him it would be best if he drove the car. I told him, there is a TSB out for the propeller shaft bearing and last time you had my car you replace a rear wheel bearing and told me the rest were fine. I told him the sound and feel is prominent at 55-60 and that I am starting to hear it at 38-40 as well. He walks around my car and says well I can see here that you need an alignment...I ignored him and we went on the drive. He drove around for a few miles at no faster than 40. Then he hopped on the highway and floored it to 75mph and said " does this one have AWD?" I said yes, and reminded him the sound was betwen 55-60. He go to that speed and said " oh that sound, yeah it sounds like the beginning of wheel bearing, but I don't know for sure, I think these have the pressed bearing. I told him no it was the hub assembly. He told me that was good because it would cost me less in labor?? I kept my mouth shut. The car is still under Powertrain warranty for another 15,000 miles. I was fed up, we got back to the dealership and he said not to worry about it for now, and asked if I wanted a free car wash. I did everything I could not to push the guy out of my car and say F#$k You but I just said no thank you. Moral of story, DO NOT GO TO WHITE BEAR SUBARU. I have faith in Subaru and their Tech's, even the ones at WBS. It's getting past the dumbass at the desk to get them to take a look at it. I will make the hour drive to Morries ,where I use to go, to have them take a look. Thanks for listening and for the angry grammar mistakes

 

Sounds like something mechanical for sure. Either way, its under warranty so i would keep bringing it back until they get the issue fixed. I know first hand what its like to have a ****ty service advisor , so do all the subaru owners in rochester. If its under warranty i would keep bringing it back and demand that they keep you informed of any replacements or changes needed. I know this is extremely annoying but hey, its not your dime make them give you a loaner everytime you go in to!

 

Well whats worse is it was the Service Manager. I understand they deal with Subaru and Acura, but if I can recall Subaru hasn't made a FWD since maybe 1996!! The guy actually asked me if it was AWD. They did give me a loaner last time they worked on it. I guess I expect that. I may actually try Bloomingto Acura/Subaru next, Morries is way out of my way, but they did take care of my WRX and my 2.5i. If I knew I could I would replace my wheel bearing and if it fixed it I would tell them to pay me back. I personally think it is that or the propellor shaft bearing and would put money on it.