my 2cts.
Myself, I had a faulty wheelbearing frontside on our 2011 GTC with less than 40000mi. on the clock. Car was never manhandled and no mentionable pothole hitting. Noise on road rapidly became hells but no noise upon spinning wheels freely, neither any movement upon pulling and pushing.
Still the bearing had approx. 2mil. movement!!!
Bentley-mechanic told me that a probable cause is in the cleaning of the wheels ( acid/highpressure) , wich I never have done btw. 'the seal would then crimp and let moisture in' he said.
I contacted SKF (the manufacturers of the bearing) who garanty at least 80000+ mi. on their website. When detached, I offered to send them the faulty bearing for inspection. Never heard of them again.


Any way, in case of doubt: when it is the bearing the noise will gain in intensity rapidly over the distance you drive.


grtz

 

Is the noise - the car, not the wife - constant or does it increase over time?
Apparently when it’s a bearing it changes/increases as you drive because of temperature changes.

 

When I got my 'o9 5 years ago it had a lot of road noise so I switched from the Pirelli's it was wearing to Michelin's and the car is a LOT quieter and handles much better. It also had a pronounced pull to the right which the dealer said could be cured for about $3500. My indie guy turned the front rotors and the problem was solved.

 

The Michelin’s seem to get good reviews here indeed, might switch over to them once my Pirelli’s run out.

 

Are these Michelin’s run flat? Just the thought of not having a spare keeps me on this side of the Pirelli fence.

 

Not they're not but I do have a compact spare tire and tool kit located under the floor in the trunk. Does your car not have one? Looks like this:

 

Nope...I have a big “hump” where mines would go but I’m guessing that spare might fit there. I actually have a “tool kit” thing where it goes. I’ll add it to this thread when I get home.