Brian McCoy

I just got back from a 1500 mile trip and through the course of the drive I developed a rather painfull annoyance with a loud (deafing?) hum that seemed to be coming from my right front wheel/tire. Pressures was normal, no unusual wear, no additional heat buildup (on the wheel or rim as compared with the other 3). And what's weird is that at some speeds, like 82, it would fade out to almost nothing. So my driving was an exercise in holding a constant speed (cruise brain is dead) and trying to save my hearing.

The car's going up for some other maintenance in a day or two and I'm just looking to get a head-start on ideas of things to check but I assume it'll be the bearings.

Asside from that, what a Great car to road trip in. Complete comfort the whole time, the AC kicks *** (I was down in New Orleans), the Ice Shark headlight kit made night driving Nothing with being able to see miles down the road and the ~32mpg was a welcome change from the ~20 I would have gotten in the other vehicle at my disposal.

Sami951

Does it get louder when you're turning left?

I'm going to get my wheel bearings out either today or tomorrow to see if it cures a similar noise I have in my car...

Luis de Prat

Brian, are you sure the noise is coming from the front? In these cars, the rear axle is so close to the front seats that when the rear wheel bearings go bad, the direction the sound comes from can be confusing. BTDT.

Try driving it while taking big turns into and out of the humming side. IIRC the bearings should quiet down under the greater load of a turn (or is it vice versa?) You get the idea...

Another way to check is raising the wheel that is suspect and checking it for freeplay on the axle. If it wobbles any, you need bearings on it.

Robert D

True...My bearings weren't wobbling on the axle..but the race on the inside had a gouge in it from the bearings...but from what...

Brian McCoy

IIRC, the noise was pretty much constant through all situations (it'd dim down a little which going slower and hurt my ears Really bad at anything over 80mph). I did take several corners at 70mph and nothing changed.

Robert D

Bent wheel, worn tires?

Hans

Hey guys, an old trick...

Lift car, wheels free from ground.
Pry brake pads free from rotor
Swing wheel and let it rotate free
Put ear on fender
Hear whisper: background noise: tell neighbours to shut-up.
Hear noise: bearing
Hear grumming noise: Dead bearing

The fender acts as the case of guitar, amlitying every noise, so better switch off the interior fan and radio first...
Works for front bearings only, the rear will have half the drive train hanging on it.
TakeCare

Brian McCoy

It does it with 2 sets of wheels (16" PDs and 16" Fuchs) that never had a problem before (the PD's were off the car when it started and the noise continued when installed). Both sets of tires are better than 60%. Brake pads are in good condition too as is everything else I could see while under the car before my trip.

It's definatally not RPM/Engine dependant (rolled along at 80mph with the clutch in and the sound was consistant). It's definatally speed dependant too based on the sound levels when cruising at different speeds. I hope to get the wheels off to check the bearings in the next couple of days.

Thanks for the thoughts so-far.. much apprciated.

Luis de Prat

My bet is right-rear wheel bearings are shot. Do you remember hitting any curbs laterally when parking, etc.?

Good luck with it!

Brian McCoy

I tagged a curb about 6k miles ago with the right front wheel (was a light tap at about a 45deg angle) but that's it. The car's sat for the last 3 months getting about 100 miles in that time and then this popped up.

I just pulled the front wheels and bearings but everything looked good. I pulled everything out, gave it a through cleaning and reassembled but won't know if that's the issue for a few days. I've got to do my accessory belts and had a mis-communication with Paragon so my order was incomplete. I'll pull the rears tomorrow sometime to inspect/clean/regrease just so I know all 4 corners have been attended to.

Mike Murcia

Does a bent wheel sound similar to a bad bearing? Makes sense I guess, but does anybody have personal experience?

Sami951

I'm hijacking this thread...

Just did took out my right front wheel bearings, cleaned them out and then re-packed with high quality grease. Visual inspection would say the bearings were in good shape, however I'm not a mechanic so I could well miss some of the less obvious signs...

Didn't really help at all. I'm not sure if the noise went down a bit, but it's definately still there...

so: can the bearings look/feel ok, but still be bad? Or, what else might it be (humming/rumbling noise when turning left at speed, feels very much like it's coming from the right front wheel) ..?

Thanks!!

Sami951

Oh yeah, what would happen if I screw up the tightening (too much or too little) ..?

Robert D

The wheel would be either too loose, ruining the bearing and creating more noise...or too tight, causing the bearing un-natural stress and resistance, thuse wearing it out quicker.

Bent wheels do sound somewhat like bearings, loud WOOWOOWOOWOOWOOWOOWOO.....when you look in the bearings, avoid using bearings that are colored purple...they've been baked

Sami951

Gotta try tightening them tomorrow... weren't purple, that I probably would have noticed

Now that I think of it, I did curb the right front wheel quite hard last weekend while dodging a slow-*** guy who had rather weird apex points... didn't get any immediate vibration or anything though, so I'm guessing at least the wheel itself is fine...