Possible wheel bearing noise?(with sound)
 

After I had my accident last month and got my car fixed, I noticed this humming noise which sounds very hollow(can't think of a better description). It's not particularly loud but definitely noticeable.

I watched many youtube videos and think it can resemble some wheel bearing noise but I'm not that sure. So I recorded the sound and put it here: https://soundcloud.com/joshlx/car-noise The sound starts at all rpms but it's most obvious when I let off the gas and shift to neutral while moving ~10th second in the recording.

Can you help me decide how I can get this fixed? Thanks a lot!

Hi joshix .... http://www.runemasterstudios.com/gra...mages/wave.gif

What kind of accident did you have? Did you slam the car against something?

What was fixed on the car?

You might try driving down the road at about 20-30 MPH and when you hear the sound, briskly make the car go from one side of the road to the other to see if the sound changes.

Then take it into a shop and have them check the wheel bearings.

I hope you get er fixed up soon.


humfrz

Hi humfrz

My car hit the curb in Feb. The dealer told me the hub assembly, sub frame and lower control arm were replaced. So I suspect something's wrong with the fix.

I'm planning to bring it back to the dealer this weekend. But I want to know a bit more about the noise if it's possible.

Thanks for the help!

Front? Rear? Need more info.

Can you tell if it's coming from one side or the other, or from the center?

I feel it's coming from the front.

Just by hearing the noise, I can't tell which side it is. But My last accident was on the left side(with replacement), so it's more likely to be on the left.

How many accidents have you been in and what damages were incurred? Was the accident to the front or rear of the vehicle? Driver side or passenger side? What all was replaced? Do you have any aftermarket parts?

Jesus it's like trying to pull teeth using your fingers.

Yeah not enough info to diagnose accurately.

You could jack the front up and spin the wheels by hand to see if you can feel/hear anything abnormal. You might hear the brake pads rubbing slightly but that's normal.

Hi sshole:

I answers some of your questions in a earlier reply. Only had 1 accident, to front left and front rear. I don't have any aftermarket parts.

Thanks!

I did that the other day. But I couldn't spin the wheel very quickly - definitely not as fast as 30 mph. I heard the brake pads sound clearly, but didn't notice anything else.

When I drive the car, I can hear the noise above 9mph. I'll need more exercise to spin the wheel that fast lol.

Thanks!

Most of the time when a wheel bearing goes bad (non-accident involved) you will hear a much louder noise from the bearing that is bad when you load the front wheel by turning it left or right. The outer bearing is probably the culprit 99% of the time.

Take your car out on a smooth level or downhill area, turn off the radio, roll down both windows and get it up above where you start to hear the noise then swerve the car left and then right but not so hard you hear the tires growl. If you have a bad outer bearing you should be able to determine which side is causing your problem by sound or feel through steering wheel. You don't need to swerve hard (like jerk the wheel) and probably not more than 1/4 to 1/3 turn of the wheel.

Did you have any tires replaced? Same brand?

If noise is louder when turning steering wheel to the right, then left bearing is bad and vice-versa.

Hope this helps.

I know just enough about repair to be dangerous, so take this with a grain of salt. However, I just peeked at the factory service manual CD, and there is a diagnostic test detailed there using a dial gauge to measure the play in the front hub bearings. It looks like the whole inspection would take about five minutes per side in the shop. The tolerance is pretty low (0.05mm), so if they do it right they should know pretty quickly whether there's anything wrong with the bearings.

If it's not a bearing, you might just be hearing the pads rubbing on the disc when they are freewheeling.

Well, sometimes a whacked out (not wore out) bad bearing/race will sound like a low pitched growl. Sometimes it's hard to tell where it's coming from.

Be sure to ask them to check the wheel bearings on all wheels that hit the curb at the time of your accident.


humfrz

I took my car to the dealers over the weekend but they said they couldn't hear any noise. I hope I'm not being too sensitive about the sound from the car, but I can definitely hear it.

Oddly, if I roll down the windows, the noise becomes less noticeable because of the wind/road noise. I also did a few full turns in a parking lot at around 25 mph but the noise stayed the same level.

I didn't replace any tires so they're all stock.

I guess I'll drive my car like this to see if it gets worse.