MichaelR

Hi, folks. Got a question about a rear wheel groan on my 85 auto. It's the left wheel, and only happens when making a left sweeping turn, not a sharp turn (too slow), and only at better than say 30mph. No noise when straight, even at higher speed, and no noise on right turn...just left. To my untrained ear, it sounds more like tire noise. However, I also thought it could be bearings, but I don't know firsthand what that sounds like.

I took the wheel off last night while adjusting the rear shocks, and it looks OK, but doesn't quite roll smoothly when pushed on the driveway. However, I wasn't convinced that it was the tire causing the slight wobble rather than uneven concrete. Seemed to be no real play in the wheel/hub when on the car.

Question is, will it be OK for a short distance to swap the rear wheels to see if the groan follows the wheel? This would help me eliminate the tire as the source. However, I believe it's normally recommended that you DON'T change the direction the tire is rolling.

Any advice? Many thanks.

John Krawczyk

I too had a left side noise about 1 month ago and found i had torn CV boots, but only on the drivers (left) side. I suspect the boots may have been torn for a while, because the grease in the joints was hard and lumpy. I rebuilt both axles (might as well) with all new grease and boots and now the noise is gone. Lucky for me i caught it early. My CV joints are all still good. Now they are even better.

MichaelR

Thanks, John. Checked the boots last night, they look good, relatively new. I know they were replaced by PO's mechanic not too long ago, just don't have the paperwork on me. I'll give them a better check this weekend, too.

Any opinions on swapping the wheels as a test to rule out the tire?

Dennis Wilson

Michael,

I had a groan when turning to my right. The ultimate cure was replacing the left side wheel bearing.

Dennis

MichaelR

Thanks, Dennis. Might end up being that. Did you replace it yourself?

I also had the bright idea that I could swap the tires front/back to see what that does. Not sure why I was stuck to the rear wheel left/right swap. Guess I was thinking about the cars with wider rims on the back, so I couldn't swap front/back. Mine are the same, so it shouldn't be an issue.

Dennis Wilson

Michael,

Since it happened to my daily driver, I took it to Tom Charlesworth in Tulsa. He had it in and out the same day. His trick was to freeze the new bearing and heat the housing to ease installation. He also had a pneumatic driver which helped just a little. 8^) I believe the bill was for about $100 including labor.

Dennis

2V4V

Michael,

Sure sounds like your wheel bearing. Can be done yourself, and a MAPP torch (and a household freezer) makes it a relatively painless task.

You don't need air to do the job, but it does make removal of the axle nut quick and easy.

Search the archives, I believe this has been covered in several posts.

HTH,

Greg

namasgt

I am having the same problem, groan sound when doing a left turn at slow speeds, only does it some times. Has anyone had the same problem and fixed it with a new bearing? It actually makes a scraping sound like running a sandpaper over a wood surface.
In case you think its from the CV joints, I have no Idea if the rear boots have been replaced, good chance their original, but I could not see any damage on them last time I checked them.
Car is an 88 S4 Automatic with 107,000 miles.

Thanks

dr bob

To the OP's question: Yes, you can swap the right and left tires/wheels to try and ID the cause of the noise.

To the guy who got the rear bearings swapped for $100 labor, that was way cheap.

In a few places in the country, a few of us have each purchased a tool kit that allows the rear bearings to be changed without disassembling any suspension. The tools kits are available for nominal rental from some. Closest to Houston is probably Dean Fuller on the list here. PM him directly for logistics. The tool set makes relatively short work of the job. In the process you'll have both axles out, so at least a repack and re-boot of the CV joints is a good idea WYAIT. Brakes are off and hanging, so new pads are also a good WYAIT option if they are nearing end-of-life condition. There's easy access to plenty more stuff if you have unlimited schedule and budget, but that's the short list of things you'll have unbolted and laying on the floor or hanging for the bearing replacement.

AO

$100? No way! Steal of the century!

Sure sounds like it could be a bad rear bearing. I'd do just about everything else before I'd tackle it though, cause it's not a super simple job.

+1 on what dr bob said.

namasgt

Thanks guys.

tmpusfugit

Well, actually I am in Houston and I have a SIR-90 tool that is about the only way I could have changed out my rear wheel bearing without removing the entire spindle / axle assembly. And the bearing alone is nearly $100, so who ever did it for $100 did it for free. That said, on my car it was perhaps a 3 or 4 hour process, could be done in less time now that I have a better idea of how to do it...but it IMO require either the SIR tool or completely pulling the entire assembly to press the old bearing out and the new one in. In my case the resl difficulty was getting the old one out, the new one went in pretty easily....

Drop me a PM and we will see what makes good sense..

dr bob

Jim--

Can I add you to the list of B-90 owner/donor/rent/loan candidates?


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Most of the cars with more than 100k on them are easy candidates for rear bearing replacement, along with a growing list of WYAIT needs. I have a really quiet car, so hearing the bearings complain at <90k wasn't too tough. Folks with loud tires and/or loud exhaust may not hear the complaints until the bearings are a little further gone. If you have bigger wheels, hub extensions or lower offset numbers, the angular loading on those rear bearings goes up a lot, further reducing their expected life. We did a clinic hare a while back with a few cars, and my B-90 tool has been up and down the left coast for clinics and several individual owners' use. I think with the lift now, and with a couple folks working together on a car, both rear bearings could swapped easily in a couple hours. Plus whatever WYAIT project time you might need of course.

Folks in the Los Angeles area are welcome to use the tool I have. Get a few candidates together at a convenient time and we can do another clinic here in Glendale if needed. That way you have the benefit of the groups' prior learnings, making the job much faster and safer, and a whole lot less stressful vs. doing it all yourself laying on the cold garage floor.

tmpusfugit

Please do add me to the list as willing to assist others and use the SIR 90 tool around the Houston area, but not really interested in shipping it off....as sure as I send it off someplace we will need it locally.....