ORIGINAL: thewarmachine

What kind of grinding noise??? Doesn't sound like gear whine to me.

ORIGINAL: GT/SRT

x2!

Gear whine isn't a grinding sound...something else is going on.

ORIGINAL: Silencer06


Please excuse my choice of terminology. Whine, grind, hum, vrrrr, grrrr, whateverrrrr. Either way it's impossible to describe a sound in words in an email. If you heard it, you would know. I just can't perfectly describe the sound.

I myself wondered and doubted that the sound is a drive shaft or gear issue because it just "appeared", so I got to thinking "shoot for simple causes first". First thing I thought of was maybe the sound is tire related. I've never had the front end realigned since changing from stock wheels to my KDW tires and deep dish wheels, so I wondered if maybe the tires aren't wearing properly and the "whine" could be related to that. I felt around the surface of my front tires and, sure enough, one of them seems to be wearing a little oddly on the inside. Hmmm...maybe that's it?? I took it to a tire shop to have them look at it, took a tech for a slow drive so he could hear what I was hearing, and he said it doesn't sound like a gear thing and could instead be caused by "cupping" of the tire...especially at slower speeds which is when I hear it (around 18 mph or so). He got out and felt around the tires and, yes indeed, he said it does appear to be cupping and recommended I have the car realigned. The car doesn't pull at all, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's aligned properly either. Guess I'll try an alignment, rotate the tires from front to back and then see if that eliminates the sound. The last thing I want is Ford poking around my undercarriage trying to "find" something that isn't there, so hopefully the simple cause is the simplest solution too.

Thanks to all for your input. It's always good to get different perspectives before jumping into things, simple or complicated.