Changed rims a while back for the winter weather and it seemed that as soon as I did that it started to make this noise similar to the noise a wheel bearing makes when it's worn out (i.e 'wua wua wua wua wua'). Wheel radius is relatively the same, 18 which lower profile tires before and switched to 16 with much high profile basically evening out the space lost.
Did make sute the wheels were mounted flush & torqued to spec?
They should be, I put them on myself and I've done it several times before. If I remember correctly I torqued everything to 100 pounds which is what it calls for I think for a 2016 Buick Verano
Just to be safe give it a double check, make sure to follow the tightening pattern as well.
If it's none of that try jacking up the corner making noise & checking for wear.
Have you also checked to make sure the wheel is not rubbing?
What exactly would it be rubbing on?
Depending on the offset the wheel could be rubbing on a suspension part. I have seen that before.
Rubbing would be more of a constant than fading in & out, when I put too fat of a tire on the hot rods I built it would be a constant scuff or screech vs uneven....internal belts shifting did though.
Well I'll have to check for marks or worn down areas in the inside section of the tire but I thought I made sure the offset matched and everything. It doesn't seem to get louder when turning or anything though it days stays the same except gets higher pitched when going faster and lower and slower.
Well I can promise you this is no hot rod and the width it actually smaller since it's for winter. Not sure if that would make any difference.
I'm not saying yours is, that's just where my personal experience comes from with dealing in larger tires.
Skinnier wouldn't be causation for rubbing, since you mention that you went down in rim size it's also possible that an already tight clearance between the rim itself & parts could now be making contact.
You can either jack it up & check with the car in the air or pop each wheel off (latter is preferred) to check for any fresh metal or flash rust on not only the inside & lip of the rim but also any component it's close to.
Check to see if the inside of the wheel is scraping on the brake caliper. I have seen this happen many times before.
