Oscillating Drone Sound In My 2012 Gt, Ford Is Unsure Of Problem

Hi everyone, first post here. Sorry if it's a super long one, but I'll be trying to include whatever details I can think of, so thank you if you make it all the way through. I'm having an issue with my car that is starting to drive me crazy and which Ford has been unable to correctly diagnose thus far, so I'm hoping maybe some other Mustang owners will have some insight. I think my drive shaft may be bad, please see if you agree. So far this has been a real mess.



Back in February I got back into the world of Mustang ownership and bought a 2012 GT with 16,000 miles. It looks nearly brand new, it is all stock, and I don't recall really noticing this issue while I was test driving it, but as I started driving it on a daily basis over past weeks I began to notice something was up. Whenever I'm driving over 40 or 45 mph, I start to hear what can be best described as an oscillating drone. A droning sound that rises in volume and then falls, rises and falls, quite repetitiously. It's not overwhelming but it is definitely there, and loud enough that it's become a nuisance after having to hear it for weeks now.

A few things I've noticed:

• When going through a mild turn at speed, i.e. on a freeway overpass that curves, I notice the drone becomes more pronounced and for a brief time will usually stop oscillating and become a steady, flat drone
• Shifting into neutral while at speed has no affect on the sound
• Braking/accelerating has no affect on the sound, doesn't seem related to exhaust flow or anything

I first took the car to a Discount Tire and had the tires balanced & rotated. The dealership I bought the car from told me this had just been done at 15,900 miles, but according to the tire shop all of the wheels were out-of-balance and still had all the original factory balance weights, and had likely never been rotated or balanced since factory. They also noted that the tires had developed some cupping and uneven wear. After rotation & balance there was no change in the drone.

I then took the car to Ford and told them all of the above. They kept the car and called me later that day, saying they thought the problem was actually related to rusted brake rotors and glazed brake pads, and suggested I have them resurfaced. I took the car back to my dealership and they resurfaced the rotors and the pads for free, and there was no change in the drone.

I took the car back to Ford, went on a test drive with the shop foreman, and he could hear exactly what I've described and agreed it was some sort of issue. He said they would put it up on some type of lift that would allow them to run the car up to speed while off the ground, and hopefully isolate the noise. They called me later that day saying that it was, in fact, actually related to the uneven wear on the tires, and suggested I replace 2 tires.

I then went to back to Discount Tire, but a different location. They examined the tires and said that there really wasn't much cupping, but that all 4 tires had "wavy" wear patterns on them and extensive weather cracking. They said I should consider replacing all 4 and that it would likely correct this droning sound. At this point, I wanted to replace the cheap Pirelli's that came with this car anyways, so I went ahead and had them replace all 4 tires.

And the droning sound is still there. Perhaps even a slight bit higher in pitch now, can't really tell for sure. But it's still an oscillating, pulsing drone that is present (or at least most noticeable) whenever I'm cruising over 40mph or so.

Before I take it back to Ford, does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? At this point the only thing I can think of is a bad drive shaft, perhaps?

I would appreciate any input, thank you in advance!!

Thank you Deysha, will do! I have an appointment with Ford tomorrow.

Ford found the problem at last, it was bad wheel bearings in the front. They replaced both left and right and the noise vanished completely!