Hi all,

I hope someone can come up with any suggestions as to the source of my problem.

I bought my car back in November and all has been fine with it, up to 1 month ago. I started noticing a humming sound coming from the rear of the estate, noticeable at very low speeds but more noticeable on rougher road surfaces.

Fast forward to today I have 4 brand new, quiet tyres (to eliminate uneven wear/cheap brand tyres). I have also had it at 4 garages. All of them have discounted the bearings having checked and tested them. One has suggested wind noise from the roof bars (unlikely as it hasn't been there from the start), another suggested it was just the car (impossible, it was very quiet only 2 months ago).

The noise, which is very hard to describe in writing, is very much like a humming resonating note, getting louder with speed (but not changing 'tune'). Makes the car very noisy on rough roads, but is still present on smooth roads. It has also worsened over the past month.

Toyota, who have the warranty on the car, say they can't find fault with any bearing and won't just replace them on the off-chance it will solve a problem, however I am now stuck with a hopelessly noisy car (the humming drone will be heard above any level of stereo music!).

For those with a mechanical background, does this really sound like the early signs of a bearing going, i.e. one that is impossible to notice when spinning the wheels without load? I hope it gets even worse because at some point it must be noticeable even without load.

Finally I can't believe it's wind noise that has just suddenly started happening, but wondered if others had better ideas?!

Thanks for reading this long winded post, see if anyone can help me!

Paul.