russianDude

Just started paying attention to wheel spining sound. So when I am driving on a quiet and smooth road, 30-50 MPH, I drop car in neutral and listen.... What I hear sounds like a faint (bad/noisy) wheel bearings noise, but its so faint that I can't tell for sure. Does this sound familiar, or maybe its normal, I can't tell just yet.
I am pretty sure dealer will say "Cant reproduce" at this point, so will wait and see if its getting worse.

Madd Dog

If it changes with speed, it could easily be a wheel bearing.

russianDude

Its difficult to tell at this point, I guess I expected new car to be very quiet on a smooth road at low speeds. Maybe tires are just noisy, dont know. Just thought someone had similar experience. I had bad wheel bearing on previous car, it was very obvious... I suppose it will get worse over time if its indeed the bearing

Wander

AWD drivetrains produce some gear noise. It's subtle in RDX, but it's there.

russianDude

thanks! I really hope thats what it is, though I do drop it in neutral to minimize powertrain sounds

blexann

To determine if it's the bearings trying turning right for a bit and then left and listen for noise, left turn noise and the right bearing may be bad, and vice versa. You don't need to be going very fast - this can be done in a parking lot. Vehicle is fairly new so doubt it's bearings

leomio85

Highly doubt it's a wheel bearing either, but defective parts are still a thing in 2019. I'd say find an open stretch of road and try to slalom the car around the speed you hear the noise at. Or, take it to a stretch of road that has a sweeping curve that you can take at speed. Go both ways as to isolate which side the bad wheel bearing is on. If the wheel bearing is at the very early stages of taking a dump, it may not be audible at low speeds.

My guess is normal drivetrain noise. The sound insulation in these cars is pretty poor. Plenty of wind and tire noise. Heck, last week I had a leaf frozen to my hood and it sounded like I was in a goddamn Cessna driving down the highway with the thing flapping at the front of my hood. I couldn't believe how much sound transferred into the cabin.

russianDude

I hope this is the case, also it could be tires that make noise that in some cases can be mistaken for defective wheel bearing. The OEM tires are not the greatest tires for being quiet?
In all my Acuras, OEM tires were always the worst.