Hey all,

Looking for some help diagnosing what appears to be a noise coming from the rear of our van. It has been increasing in volume slowly over the last several months while driving, it sounds like the in-cabin sound an airplane makes at cruising speed at altitude, and the pitch increases as vehicle speed increases and vice versa.

Could this possibly be a wheel bearing or something else. The vehicle has about 128,000 mi on it and has never had any rear area issues. Thanks very much for any thoughts and whether it is still safe to drive at this point.

 

If you can't do your own repairs you'll need to take it to a garage. Otherwise jack up each side and spin wheel and listen for the noise. You may need to loosen off brakes though.

 

Sounds like wheelbearing to me.
Sometimes you can go on for many miles with a sound like that but I wouldn't take that chance.
Wheel bearings are not very expensive and easy to replace for a mechanic so I would not risk damaging the wheelhub or something, that would be much more expensive.