Around a year and a half ago, my girlfriend and I were driving our 2017 Mustangs home on the highway. We were going probably 75 MPH or so and it was getting dark. She hit a pothole and it blew out her right rear tire. I also went through the pothole and it had no effect on mine. She has the EcoBoost Mustang with the low profile appearance package wheels and automatic transmission. I have a barebones V6 with the standard wheels and automatic transmission. We replaced both of her rear tires to keep the wear even.
Fast forward 50k miles to now, and we have noticed an unusual noise that almost sounds like loud tire noise. Her dad thought it might be a broken tire belt, he used to drive 18 wheelers for a living. I don't think this is the case, as there's no shaking or handling problems, and the sound doesn't really appear until she's going over 35 mph.
I recorded a video of the sound. She's doing 70 mph in the video, and I was cramped up in the backseat, we weren't expecting to give her sister a 30 mile ride home after the baseball game, haha. I noticed the sound is noticeably louder back there, and I'm starting to think this is wheel bearing noise, though it seems a bit odd that it took 50,000 miles of driving for the sound to come out. It could be due to worn tires, she's approaching the 70k mile tread life warranty of the tires, but this seems too loud for worn tires.
https://youtube.com/shorts/werlvdE8t34?feature=share
It's a toss up. Well worn tires make noise. Some wheel bearings go bad in 50 k miles with no major pothole encounters. Get the wheel up off the ground and see it there's any looseness or grinding when rotated, that should give you an idea about the bearings.
