sah351

Hey folks so I have a 1999 civic ex with a 176k miles and I've had it since around 130k miles. I've never changed the bearings and to my knowledge they've never been changed.

With that said, there's a noise that starts around 30-40 mph and progressively gets louder as I speed up and it's at it's loudest around 80 mph. The noise gets a little quieter as I go to the right on the freeway but going to left, it becomes louder. I've attached a few videos hoping you can hear the noise in the background.The noise seems to be clearer and more distinct in the last video and it can be heard better with headphones.

Additionally, I've tried wiggling both front wheels to confirm if it is the bearings both they don't move which is why I'm starting to doubt if it is the bearings. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for the help!

gtpilot

take a look at your CV joints...

sah351

Thanks gtpilot. I should've mentioned that the boots are fine but I did replace the passenger side axle earlier this year since the boot was starting to tear. The noise didn't go away and was there before the axle replacement but not to the extent now.

Former User

A bad bearing can cause this problem and produce a growling noise.

sah351

Right but then how would you explain the tires not moving when I try to wiggle them? Isn' that a sure sign of bearing failure? Which side do you think btw? The noise increase decrease should be indicative of which sign but I'm not sure how to interpret that.

Former User

mk378

A bad bearing gets noisy. A really bad bearing has play in it.

You should hear almost nothing if you jack up the car and turn the wheel by hand in neutral. Any noise the bearing makes will get a lot worse with the weight of the car on it.

Louder when you go to the left suggests that the problem is on the right side. The weight of the car shifts to the outside of a turn.

sah351

Thank you gentlemen. Would you recommend I change both sides while I'm at it?

4Xreincarnated

Yes or there will be uneven wear on your ball bearings. When i did them on my truck i did both for peace of mind

kp

What? Uneven wear? Don't listen to this guy OP.