Rear end noise - not sure what it is

[stlmusic]

I have a 2003 VUE AWD V6 3.0L with 220,XXX miles. Original owner.

There is a noise that seems to be coming from the rear and is mainly noticeable once you reach about 40 mph. I also noticed that when I made a quick turn (at speed) to the left, the noise would temporarily get louder as the weight was shifted to the right side of the car. It got quieter when I shifted the weight to the left side which to me was an indication the problem is with something on the right side. I jacked the car up and checked for play on the right rear wheel. It was solid. No play at all. Then I lifted the left wheel and found play in all directions. Not the wheel I was expecting to be bad. I replaced the hub bearing today and also changed the RDM fluid just in case just to see if this would make any difference. The wheel is solid since the replacement of the hub. The sound is still there so now I'm thinking it is still a right wheel bearing or maybe a CV joint. It really sounds like a bearing (as I've replaced many on the car due to the same sound and know what it sounds like when they are going bad) but there is no indication physically that's it's bad. The CV joint feels tight as well.

So my question is, what items will make a constant noise at speed, change pitch with speed and change volume with weight being added or lightened besides a bearing or CV joint? I can't think of any. At this point I guess I can just drive until it really gets loud and easier to detect but any insight would be appreciated.

Also another slightly off-topic question. When the car is in park, I sometimes notice a slight popping sound coming from the back of the car. Almost sounds like something is spinning in the RDM. I thought that unit was purely mechanical. Anyone know what that might be? Fuel pump?

Thanks.

[tiger862]

You can check tires for cupping or a bearing. That would be my guess.

[golftango]

From the sounds of it, wheel bearing. Pretty common, surprised yours made it over 200K miles before it went.

[stlmusic]

Originally Posted by tiger862

You can check tires for cupping or a bearing. That would be my guess.

The tires are brand new (less than 1,000 miles) but the sound was there way before the new tires and the tire wear from the old tires was even. No signs of problems.

[stlmusic]

Originally Posted by golftango

From the sounds of it, wheel bearing. Pretty common, surprised yours made it over 200K miles before it went.

Have you seen or heard of bearings going bad without any physical play that's noticeable? If that's common then that would be my guess as well since it's more of a hum (bearing) than grinding (cv)

The bearing in question has been replaced in the past due to the same noise. (probably over 100,000 ago) The only difference is that I could physically feel the play when pulling on the tire. The interesting thing is that the wheel that did have the bad bearing wasn't making much if any noise.