borisivan

I've noticed the strangest thing happening when I get in my car to drive home at the end of the work day:

It sounds like the wheel wells have sand hitting them. I don't know how else to describe it -- if you drove across a parking lot that had a thin layer of beach sand spread across it, you'd hear all the random sounds associated with the sand getting picked up by your tires and thrown against the top of the wheel well, like 5-6 very small pebbles bouncing around in there per second. Better yet -- imagine driving through some mud and then letting it dry on your tires all day and then you go home. Imagine the sound of all the little pieces of dried-mud-turned-dirt getting shook off and bouncing around your wheel well until you drive a couple hundred feet and it's gone -- that's EXACTLY what it sounds like.

It happens for about 10 seconds and then goes away.

There is no layer of sand in my parking lot. It's a normal, clean parking lot. I don't drive across anything other than clean roads at any point in my commute -- no puddle where things might stick, etc. My tires are clean.

It's to the point where it's so weird... that I'm starting to wonder if it's something mechanical and not sand/dirt in the wheel wells, though I can't imagine would it would be.

Any ideas?

Sometimes it doesn't happen at all. I haven't been able to discern anything different about when it does or when it doesn't, re: why that might happen.

ArvX147

rocks/sand stuck to the tires during your low speed approach to park, getting thrown off as you accelerate again.

The sandier/dirtier your parking spot the more pronounced it will be.

Burrcold

Is this something new you have noticed? Did you just come off winter tires? Summer tires will always spit up little rocks and debris into your wheel wells, it's just the nature of having stickier tires.

Zed 2.0

If it's a new sound, check that all your wheel well liners are intact. The B9 has felt-lined wheel wells and is one of the quietest cars I've driven for this particular type of noise.

Kaeden

Similar note - my car somehow brings sand home with me from work, I have to leaf blow it out of the garage every so often. I don't live near a beach, and my wife's car doesn't have this problem.

No clue where it's coming from..

MH62

Same here, I've been noticing grit tracks on my side of the garage. These sticky tires are grit magnets.

Slides

That's just the softer summer tire special most likely. I switched to all seasons pretty quickly for this and other reasons.