# What causes that "ticking" noise from vehicle wheels?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-ticking-noise-from-vehicle-wheels/550230>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 14, 2010, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-ticking-noise-from-vehicle-wheels/550230 "2010-08-14T10:34:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-ticking-noise-from-vehicle-wheels/550230/1 "2010-08-14T10:34:10Z")

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I ride my bike a lot on the roads, so I’m quite accustomed to the noises made by vehicles. Quite often I’ll hear a particular kind of noise coming from the wheels of cars and other vehicles. I can best describe it as a sort of ticking noise, but a bit heavier, almost like a quick slapping sound. The speed of it suggests that it’s happening once per wheel revolution.

Only a few vehicles make this noise, so I assume it’s not something that’s supposed to happen, but what causes it? Is it anything serious? A few possibilities I can think of are a stone stuck in the tyre, a rubbing brake or a dodgy wheel bearing. Any mechanics know the sound I mean?

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**Author:** ![qpw3141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/6bbea6/32.png) [@qpw3141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qpw3141)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-ticking-noise-from-vehicle-wheels/550230/2 "2010-08-14T10:46:59Z")

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Probably a stone in the tyre for a ticking noise. Possibly something stuck to it for a slapping noise. Wheel bearings tend to make squeak type noises (in my experience which is not extensive).

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**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-ticking-noise-from-vehicle-wheels/550230/3 "2010-08-14T11:04:04Z")

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It often means the CV joint needs to be replaced. This happened to my Acura.

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**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-ticking-noise-from-vehicle-wheels/550230/4 "2010-08-14T11:17:43Z")

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Or, they left their winter tires on, and what you are hearing are the studs.

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-ticking-noise-from-vehicle-wheels/550230/5 "2010-08-14T11:29:43Z")

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> [@BrotherCadfael](#):
>
> Or, they left their winter tires on, and what you are hearing are the studs.

I can rule that one out as I’m in England - we don’t do winter tyres here. (On the rare occasions we get an inch or two of snow, we prefer simply to descend into chaos and moan about it.)

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**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-ticking-noise-from-vehicle-wheels/550230/6 "2010-08-14T23:00:55Z")

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I hear it in my own car whenever there’s a pebble stuck in the tire tread.