Annoying vibration @ 70-80 km/h

[toasta]

I have a very annoying vibration at around the 70-80 kn/h mark and above. It sounds like a ring clamp or something that is loose and it is really hard to work out where in the car it is coming from. At 7-80 km/h eyes need to be on the road.

How would you go about locating this noise? I was thinking a piece of hose in the ear and move the other end round till the noise is located - obviously a second party.

How do others do it?

[kerway]

I spent a long time sitting in the back seat of my NW with the wife driving.
Where is the noise coming from?
Front or rear?
I had a really bad harmonic when I was doing 70kmh + coming from my driveshaft due to my lift. It was around 70 mm. I lowered it back to around 40mm and that sorted that.
I also had a bell like noise from the rear that ended up being the guard on the exhaust to protect the rear airbags. Slight adjustment and that was sorted.

Good luck
Kerway

[doctorchopper]

Have a similar issue with mine, happens around 2000 rpm. Traced it back to the heat shield around the exhaust at the very back by the furthest aft muffler. I put a clamp around it and noise has stopped

[erad]

The first thing to do is to determine if the noise is associated with engine speed or road speed. To do this, drive until the noise appears, note the engine speed (tacho reading) and then change gears. If the noise goes away, then change car speed until the engine is back to the point where the noise occurred. If the noise comes back at the same RPM, it is engine speed related. If changing gear doesn't affect the noise it is road speed related.

If it is road speed, the next thing is to vary conditions where the noise appears. Try cornering at that speed. Is it worse to the left or right? if no difference, that hopefully isolates wheel bearings (although if the noise ir really bad, the noise may not change). Tyre rotation is next - if the noise changes, it is associated with tyre wear or pressures.

Does the noise vary with temperature? If so, it may be gearing associated.

All of the above helps others to diagnose when asking a question about noise. The classic is my Daughter. "The car is making a funny noise". 'What sort of noise? Is it a rattle, grinding, scraping, squeaking noise?' "I don't know - it's a noise!" This is OK when the car is in your yard, but when it is 1500 km away it is a bit hard to diagnose.