Just got back from a great vacation trip with my wife. The Volvo performed very well on the trip from NJ to Burlington Vermont and back via Lake George and Middlebury. I did have some noise coming from the rear of the car, I've attributed it to tire noise in the past, but on this trip it seemed louder. It sounds like the car has snow tires on it. When you take a corner or slow down quickly the volume and pitch of the noise changes. It rained on the way home and the noise just about disappeared. I've heard of tires that had belts that shifted, causing noise. Is it something I should be worried about, or just let it ride? The tires have about 40K on them, Bridgestone Potenzas. and they still look great. Somewhere in the back of my mind is the possibility that the noise is rear wheel bearings, the rear has about 340K on it and has never been touched, save for a fluid change to synthetic at about 280K. The other problem came on the way home; when it started raining, I turned on the a/c, the wipers and the headlights. The voltmeter dropped to just below 12 volts from a high of about 15 and stayed there. I shut off all of the accessories and the volts never came back up. The alternator has about 130K on it. Time for new brushes? Thanks!
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