Whirring sound coming from drivetrain, dependent on speed

[j3ff]

Hello all,

While driving the 318 on the highway today, I noticed a whirring sound that seems to be coming from the rear of the car. It is definitely not a grinding sound.. maybe its just the diff working or something. But when I drove in the far left lane right next to the concrete divider, I could definitely hear the noise reflecting off of the divider and it was pretty loud.. so definitely coming from one of these components. Popping in the clutch and letting the engine idle didn't change the sound whatsoever.

After I got off the highway, I noticed that I have this sound at just about any speed more than 10-15 mph, its just slower sounding.

Is this normal??

[jlevie]

Obvious candidates would be a wheel bearing or the differential. You should be able to figure out which with the rear of the car on jack stands and the wheels spinning in 5th gear.

[PiercedE30]

Is it more of a metal scraping sound? Put your head out of the window while driving (with a passenger) and listen to the back wheels and see if the sound is coming from there. More than likely it will be wheel bearings. I would be willing to put money on the passenger rear bearing since it is the FIRST one to go on just about every car I've seen.