2025 Forester high pitch noise in rear drivers side at 76-80 mph

[Hose hosea]

I was driving my 2025 Subaru Forrester on the turnpike the other day and I noticed that precisely at 76 mph there’s a high-pitched sound coming from what appears to be the rear drivers side area. The car was bought new in February 2026 and has about 6000 miles on it. The sound begins, like clockwork, at 76 mph and it appears to end at 80, but I didn’t take it much above 80 to see if it continued again. I’ve had it in for one oil change during which time they rotated the tires, but I don’t know if the noise existed before the tire rotation, but that aside, I don’t think a tire noise would activate only in that limited area. Sounds to me like a bearing. Thoughts???

Speaking of tires what’s with the Yokohama tires on my Forrester that have a treadwear rating of 280 when I just bought other brand tires for my VW that have a treadwear rating of 800???

 

[Hose hosea]

More on those tires: tread wear is 280, traction is B and temp is A. They are Yokohama G91 Geolanders and I would never personally buy a tire with tread wear less than 600 and traction and temperature less than A.

 

[Dave in Costa Rica]

The treadwear rating is a multiple of what the manufacturer decides is their standard. So you Yokohama tires should last 2.8 times as long as their standard predicts. Understand that that is a comparison between tires from the same manufacturer. So, if Yokohama's base standard is (say) 10,000, then your Yokohama tires are rated to last 28,000 by Yokohama.

None of this has anything to do with the treadwear rating that (say) Bridgestone might project for their tires since they're comparing their tires to Bridgestone's own, different, treadwear standard rating.

Suppose Bridgestone rates a tire at 200. That Bridgestone tire might outwear Yokohama's 280 rating.

You might also consider the speed rating which is expressed in actual miles, as well as the traction rating .

Nobody said this stuff is easy.

 

[Hose hosea]

The treadwear rating is a multiple of what the manufacturer decides is their standard. So you Yokohama tires should last 2.8 times as long as their standard predicts. Understand that that is a comparison between tires from the same manufacturer. So, if Yokohama's base standard is (say) 10,000, then your Yokohama tires are rated to last 28,000 by Yokohama.

None of this has anything to do with the treadwear rating that (say) Bridgestone might project for their tires since they're comparing their tires to Bridgestone's own, different, treadwear standard rating.

Suppose Bridgestone rates a tire at 200. That Bridgestone tire might outwear Yokohama's 280 rating.

You might also consider the speed rating which is expressed in actual miles, as well as the traction rating .

Nobody said this stuff is easy.

Yes….but giving us a 280 rated tire on a scale that runs to 800, means that even within the Yokahama tire lineup, that this tire is nowhere near their top grade. But what I do know is that the Korean Hankook tires I have on my 2016 VW Jetta that are rated 800 treadwear and “A” for temperature and “A” for traction, ARE at the top of what they offer. And since there is some cross comparison between one companies 800 treadwear rated tire and another companies 800 treadwear rated tire, I know that the Hancook tire is a far far better tire than is the 230 treadwear rated Yokohama that is only rated B for traction and A for temperature. Which brings me back to my original concern: why did Subaru put such a cheap tire on this car???

 

[Dave in Costa Rica]

Hose Hosea, above you wrote, "why did Subaru put such a cheap tire on this car???". The answer is simple enough. They selected that brand of tire to save money.

 

[Hose hosea]

Hose Hosea, above you wrote, "why did Subaru put such a cheap tire on this car???". The answer is simple enough. They selected that brand of tire to save money.

But 280 tread wear? I have never seen such a low rated tire in 30 years…..

 

[Hose hosea]

The treadwear rating is a multiple of what the manufacturer decides is their standard. So you Yokohama tires should last 2.8 times as long as their standard predicts. Understand that that is a comparison between tires from the same manufacturer. So, if Yokohama's base standard is (say) 10,000, then your Yokohama tires are rated to last 28,000 by Yokohama.

None of this has anything to do with the treadwear rating that (say) Bridgestone might project for their tires since they're comparing their tires to Bridgestone's own, different, treadwear standard rating.

Suppose Bridgestone rates a tire at 200. That Bridgestone tire might outwear Yokohama's 280 rating.

You might also consider the speed rating which is expressed in actual miles, as well as the traction rating .

Nobody said this stuff is easy.

Thanks. Any thoughts on my first paragraph/question as to what’s causing my noise issue at 76-80 mph.

 

[GuyS1]

Hunch. Wheel bearing? Whoever changed you tires “may” have noticed a bearing issue, so that is unlikely but still something to look into. Raising the wheel off the ground and rotating it might reveal if it is a bearing.

 

[Daniel Renaud]

Hunch. Wheel bearing? Whoever changed you tires “may” have noticed a bearing issue, so that is unlikely but still something to look into. Raising the wheel off the ground and rotating it might reveal if it is a bearing.

at 6k miles the bearing it's gone already? mine it's a 2020 Outback with 4K no bearing issue.

 

[Hose hosea]

at 6k miles the bearing it's gone already? mine it's a 2020 Outback with 4K no bearing issue.

How do you have a 6 yr old car with only 4,000 miles on it? Not possible unless it was in storage for 6 yrs….LOL