Seen it happen a few times on a number of vehicles, normally front wheel drive cars with old and fairly worn rear tyres. The rear tyres tend to misshapen like a fifty pence piece, you can feel it just by running your hand around the tyre. It's often the inner shoulder that deforms first.
A friend of a friend asked me to look at a Mazda 6 that had a terrible noise at speed that sounded like a wheel bearing, it had been in the garage recently for several lots of brake work (needed due to a seized calliper, which turned out to be a failed flexi hose causing the brake to stay applied) but the garage hadn't located the noise, but they had rebalanced the tyres!
One look at the rear tyres ran my hand round them and told him to replace them, as they were misshaped and also almost illegal, were perishing and one had a bulge in the sidewall. I was really surprised that the garage hadn't insisted on replacing the tyres.
The owner was due to do a 4hr drive that afternoon, and didn't have time replace the tyres, so he took a chance and drove at a reduced speed. Up in York the tyres were replaced with new, and on the return journey the car was smooth and whisper quiet.
Next time I saw the owner he shook my hand and thanked me very much, that noise had been driving him made for a couple of years, he nearly sold the car because of it.
I was more concerned that the brake hose had failed at 6 years old, and that he had no idea that family car had dangerous tyres.
