New Owner - First noise problem

Spent a couple months looking for my first Porsche and finally picked it one up over the weekend (2002 Cab C2). Purchased in LA I immediately drove it home to Seattle - talk about a fun drive! This leads me to my first 'what the heck is that noise' problem. Driving home I noticed a slight whine coming from the rear half of the car. Driving next to a wall on the passenger side I can clearly hear it (although very very soft and only with the window or roof down). Driving next to a wall on the drivers side, I can't hear a thing! Ok - that makes me think I have a bad wheel bearing, right? I jacked up my right rear tire and checked for play, pushing and pulling the wheel. Absolutely none. I know this doesn't necessarily rule it out - but it doesn't help my case. I've rear that the pinion bearings can go bad and cause a similar sound as well, but why only on the passenger side? A little more info: The sound is directly connected to vehicle speed. Clutch in or clutch out makes no difference. Neither does engine rpm's. Neither does the gear I'm in, even neutral. The sound itself sounds almost identical to my truck in reverse - a whine towards the higher pitch side. Finally, it made the exact same noise at the beginning and end of my drive. So, I've got these on my list of 'what could it be'. I'm new to this transmission, so I don't know all of the details. Wheel bearing Pinion bearing Fluid running low? Differential noise? - Hard to tell given it's all one unit What do people think? What kind of tests can I run to get more info? I'm changing the gearbox oil as soon as I get some in the mail. Thanks!

Play with tire pressure... It may not be mechanical. Did we see pics yet?

if bearing is bad on one side you might be able to notice temp difference around the wheel ...but I would not drive the car in that condition. How much brake pad is left on the rears (rotor could be slightly warped ?) ? Did you have Pre Purchase Inspection done by Porsche specialist ? Either way, I'd go to a good indie in Seattle (there are a couple recommended on this board) and for $100-$200 get the car checked out for piece of mind. Could be something simple to fix - or something more serious where preventative now is better than huge bill later.

Some might suggest that you are hearing noises that only a new(to you) Porsche makes, kind of like the smells it makes as well.I hope that's all it is, but it's hard to enjoy your new car when you have these distractions. GL

As another poster mentioned, this sound could be tire related. Our tires get louder as they wear. I had a similar problem, replaced the tires and the noise went away.

Thanks for the input guys. I agree - this is something I'd like to fix before I drive it too much. I never considered tire pressure, but before I bought the car the dealer put brand new Pirelli tires on. Wouldn't surprise me if the pressure isn't correct. The brakes have plenty of life in the pads - and I've felt warped rotors before on different cars. I don't think brakes are causing this noise - although I do plan an extensive brake system upgrade soon. There's no temperature difference (even after doing 300-400 miles between fuel fill ups on the highway) between either side of the car. The whole area was actually cooler than I expected (good ventilation). That's another knock against the wheel bearing. My plan for the holiday weekend is to put the car up on jacks and to start manually moving stuff in the driveline. Hopefully I'll be able to pinpoint it then. Luckily it's overcast in Seattle this week so the pcar has been living in the garage while I drive my truck to work.

if tires are new you could have tire issue (out of round) not unheard of - especially with Pirellis - - you might want to get balance checked ($10 at Wheelworks) - also did dealer do alignment ? Maybe get that checked (normally free to check) at a good shop. Make sure tire guy has Porsche experience ..... If tire is under warranty they should be able to replace for free if there is a prolbem ...

My 996 and a friend's has a slight 'whining' noise coming from the same area while driven. It is a nonissue with me. "and what is up with the sweet smell after driving the car really hard?"

^^^^ the consensus with that is cosmoline, a coating under the body.

While I have 1999, my serpentine belt / pulleys whine a fair amount, especially accelerating. It might be that noise that you are hearing, although that does not account for hearing only on one side....

tire noise and.. you worry too much. Stop looking for something to be wrong. You sound like my x wife.. Thats a joke in case you didnt get that son. A joke.. you know one of those things that are to make ya laugh.. are you listening to me boy? Pay attention when Im talkin to you. - Foghorn Leghorn.. mid 70's

The smell isn't cosmoline. Those of us with reman engines installed get the smell also and we don't have cosmoline. The smell is your soft, very expensive rear tires evaporating due to you running the sh*t out of them next to your very hot mufflers. Nothing to worry about, just keep buying a new set of rears every year and you'll be fine. The noise on the other hand...it may be nothing unusual. The flat six has a bit of a characteristic whining noise buried in with all the other noises. Feature not a bug. Take a ride in another 996 along the same route and compare. In my case though...on the first 996 I owned...there was a whining noise that was faint but unmistakably coming from my differential. The car was a CPO, so I took it to a dealership and the service mgr agreed, then he didn't, then he did again (the noise was pretty subtle). He said he could have his best guy rebuild the diff, but it could come back better, same or even worse. I said go for it...and his best guy was good because it was fine after that. Not a common problem with the 996, but that's my story.

Everybody has me questioning my tire now, so I spent some time looking up sound clips of tire noise and I found this . That is a 100% exact match for the noise I've been hearing. Just wish I had time to actually get to the car now.... Can anybody recommend a tire shop in Seattle for an alignment? My first instinct is Costco, so I'm sure there are better .

That guys Porsche sits way to high, the hood is not stock and he's about to run out of gas

Boy those are loud tires!

Ok.....I'll say it. WHERE ARE THE PICS!

I've run a couple of sets of Pirellis and find them to be noisy. Very noisy as they wear. Drive your car like in a slalom right and left in quick sucession. If it's a wheel bearing the pitch will vary as you load it in turns. Tire noise will remain constant.

Something trying to take off back there .... Hopefully not the engine.

Update: I'm about 99% sure it's the right rear tire making the noise. I guess I could switch left and right tires for a short test drive to see if the noise moves with the tire, but for now I'm just living with it. Putting a little more air in helped (it was previously at 29 lbs, now I have it to the correct 44 lbs) Anyways, I finished my first project (refinishing the headlights) and waxed her today. Looking pretty good right now.

Nice car. Thanks for posting pics and always feel free to post more. Sorry to hear the noise Reason some mention tire pressure is the tires cupping air under the rubber can do that. Going higher normally or possibly lower can get rid of some noise. Some roads are made for noise I believe. Anyway nice to see it's working out. Welcome to the site.

Is that the after pic of the headlight? They look hazy to me in the photo.

Hope you found your problem. 15lbs low on air pressure is significant, even for a Red Sox fan. Your Porsche cab looks very nice.