Bad wheel bearing, warped rotor, something else?
08-01-2011, 12:56 PM
#1
1st Gear Member
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Indiana
Posts: 71
Bad wheel bearing, warped rotor, something else?
Recently I was on a highway trip and noticed a noise that sounded like a droning tire noise (lighter than a 4x4 truck would make, but similar sound). It seemed to be coming from the passenger front tire area. When I got home I rotated tires from front to back, but it didn't seem to change much.
A couple days ago I was driving home from work (30-40 mph) and I started to hear and feel a flat tire sound, thump thump thump. I could feel it in the steering wheel, on the brake, and even my feet resting on the floor pan. It really got bad after I went around a roundabout.
I pulled over and checked for a flat, but there was none, so I continued home and the thumping mostly stopped after I pulled back on the road. Since then it's been intermittently coming and going, somethings triggered by a right turn, sometimes a left turn.
My first thought is to change the bearing/hub assembly and see if that helps. If it were a warped rotor, it wouldn't be thumping when my foot isn't on the brake would it?
A couple days ago I was driving home from work (30-40 mph) and I started to hear and feel a flat tire sound, thump thump thump. I could feel it in the steering wheel, on the brake, and even my feet resting on the floor pan. It really got bad after I went around a roundabout.
I pulled over and checked for a flat, but there was none, so I continued home and the thumping mostly stopped after I pulled back on the road. Since then it's been intermittently coming and going, somethings triggered by a right turn, sometimes a left turn.
My first thought is to change the bearing/hub assembly and see if that helps. If it were a warped rotor, it wouldn't be thumping when my foot isn't on the brake would it?
08-01-2011, 03:01 PM
#2
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 917
A bad wheel bearing is usually pretty easy to find, when you jack the car up, grab the passenger tire and try to rock it. If you can rock it vertically and side to side, (you should hear a metallic click or clunk) the wheel bearing is shot. If you can only rock the tire side to side, the prob is in the suspension.
08-01-2011, 05:00 PM
#3
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Indiana
Posts: 71
I jacked up the front end and shook the wheel as you described. I couldn't feel any noticable movement, but from reading some other posts online it seems that when these bearings go bad they don't always have movement.
As a further test I spun the wheel and I was immediately able to hear rattling noises coming from the hub (like marbles in a box). I also noticed that the wheel wasn't spinning freely because it was hitting a spot on the brake pads each time it went around. In contrast, the driver's side front tire spins completely free and silent.
I'm going to change the hub assembly as soon as the parts arrive from Rock Auto, so hopefully that solves everything. I just hope that cyclical dragging break pads is due to the bearings and not that the rotor is warped too.
As a further test I spun the wheel and I was immediately able to hear rattling noises coming from the hub (like marbles in a box). I also noticed that the wheel wasn't spinning freely because it was hitting a spot on the brake pads each time it went around. In contrast, the driver's side front tire spins completely free and silent.
I'm going to change the hub assembly as soon as the parts arrive from Rock Auto, so hopefully that solves everything. I just hope that cyclical dragging break pads is due to the bearings and not that the rotor is warped too.
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