1998 SL2 - Snow tire noise with summer tires

We have a 1998 SL2 with 105,000 miles. We put snow tires on it last
fall for our kid's year at college. Now it's back and has summer
tires on it.

But now it sounds like there are coarse tread tires, it rumbles, with
pitch going up as speed goes up. Any ideas? It is loud enough to
need earplugs at highway speeds.

Thanks!

 

Have you had the alignment checked on all four wheels? Other possibility is
that it's a wheel bearing or CV joint that's going. Same noise when in
neutral and coasting? Any different on a right or left turn?

Who changed the winter to summer tires? Loose lugnuts?

 

It quiets down on left turns and is louder on right turns.

Neutral/coasting doesn't make a difference.

I will check the CV joint boots...

 

It sounds like a left-hand wheel bearing. Check to see if it pulls to
the left on a level road, with properly-inflated tires.

 

Conventional wisdom suggests left wheel bearing if noise increases during
right turns, but YMMV. I recently had a bad wheel bearing where noise
increased when turning towards the bad side. After removing the wheel and
brakes there was no noise or looseness/play. Diagnosis was made by
elimination after replacing the other side first and confirmed only after
replacing the second side. Search Google groups for my complete repair
report posting.

Good luck, YMMV