I did a search but didn't find what I needed. I'm sure I have a wheel bearing failing in my car (FWD daily driver of unHAMBlike characteristics) but I can't isolate which one by sound alone. If a wheel bearing is starting to fail will I be able to feel extra play with the wheel off the ground? Or is the play so minimal that it's imperceptible other than the noise even though it's going bad? I hate to wait this out and have a bigger mess to take care of. I see no leaking grease or visible signs of which bearing it is. Any tricks to figure out which one it is?
Mike, I had a very experienced mechanic drive my FWD wagon, and he stuck his head out the driver's window while turning the car side to side at moderate speed in a parking lot. He found out which side had the issue!
I'm pretty sure I know which side it is but I can't tell if it's front or rear. Now before someone says, "Replace them all cuz if one's bad the rest aren't far behind" I agree and normally I would, but I'm a little strapped at the moment and I have to do the job piece meal.
Hey Mike, Is it clickin or rumblin? Can you stand in a parking lot wile someone driver the vehicle around you? Listening carefully, sometimes you can hear which side is toast. Depending on what it is, as far as fwd, pos, you may be able to buy rebult axels for much cheaper than a failure on the highway would run ya. S****ey Devils C.C.
It's a rumbling sound that's been getting progressively louder. (Or maybe I'm just more aware of it every time I drive) It's not a CV joint though, those are all in good shape.
Jack up the suspect wheel,safety stand included....spin it up in drive and listen carefully with a stethoscope "cause I have one" or a length of hose held near the inside part of the wheel bearing hub.Have someone in the car doing the driving.You should be able to hear the difference between a good bearing and the bad one.BE CAREFULL!!!
Try this. Spin the tire by hand while holding on to the spring. You might want to feel both sides to compare. You will feel the bad one. Hmmm, maybe I ought to go do my "intro" post.
Jack up the car, grab the wheel at the top and bottom and rock it back and forth. If it moves, the bearing's bad.
I had a noise on our family car and thought wheel bearings. The car has about 75K on it so I thought I'll change both front bearings. Went to the part store and they wanted $150 for each side, the bearing isn't serviced separately. I checked each front wheel with an old Weaver wheel balancer, one that had a motor that spun the wheel with a motor that you pushed up the wheel when that wheel was jacked up. After spinning each wheel, there was no noise on either after spinning them, I did a search on Google for tire noise. It seems that tire noise is often misdiagnosed as bearing noise. I checked my tires and the left tire is cupped like the article mentioned. This might not be your problem, but something else to think about
I'm a new car tech, and this is what I do. Most front wheel drive newer cars have a big sealed bearing, inner and outter all together, and they are expensive. So it isn't smart to just change all the bearings. Since they are the big sealed bearing when they go bad they usually don't have any play in them either, untill they get really bad. When driving down the road if you slightly turn left and it gets louder it's the right, and vise versa, since your shifting the weight to the other side and loading up the bearing even more. Then jack it up and confirm it by listening to the hub with the wheels spining up to speed. You may have to turn off traction control to do this. Also while it is up check for tire wear like fordcragar said, tires can be super noisy. -john
fwd bearings go bad without being loose, they are a wide, stout roller type bearing (not tapered). sounds like the bearing surface is being chewed up and if it's an import might need to be pressed in and out of the hub. also a clicking while turning would be a c.v joint (on the axleshaft).
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