signs of a bad wheel bearing or going bad wheel bearing please.
thanks

 

driving the car, if you cut the wheel to either side, you should hear a roar, or if you put the car up in the air, grab the tire and 8 and 2 and shake some , it may feel loose, um or top and bottom of tire and do that, but check you balljoints to make sure theres no play in those either. if theres a sears or tire shop around, they should do a front end evaluation for cheap or free, i know sears does. good luck with finding out. lemme know if this helps

 

usually a wheel bearing going bad will make a "humming" noise.

 

when driving in a straight line i'd hear a howling noise. When i cut the wheel to the left i'd hear a knocking sound from the R side. Found out my R wheel bearing was bad.

remove the axle and brake caliper. Once the bearing is isolated spin the hub. if you feel resistance or it sounds bad it's the wheel bearing.

if you see heat damage on your splines it's a wheel bearing.

 

a good way to know is bad
put the car in the air grab the spring and spin the tire with ur other hand if u feel vibration on the spring bearing is bad .

 

alright i think i may have a bad wheel bearing, what happens if i keep driving on it? im not sure when i can go order the part and install it, thats why i ask. but if its not something safe to do i will get it done asap.
thanks

 

Worst case is your wheel will lock up and you'll lose control of your car.

 

I drove around with a bad rear wheel bearing for a few weeks and put alot of miles on it before I replaced it. It only takes like 15 minutes to put a new one on.

 

shaking the wheel is not the correct way to diagnose a bad wheel bearing. that just finds loose balljoints, lugnuts, or axle nut. not a bad wheel bearing. common misconception retold by ppl who dont know what theyre talking about and just repeating what they heard.

everyone else is correct in looking for humming/whining noise, and feeling for roughness, vibration or grumbling when turning the wheel slowly in the air.

get it done asap.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Speed--Freak &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Worst case is your wheel will lock up and you'll lose control of your car.</TD></TR></TABLE>

this is true!

the heat will stress the hub and it will break off. once that happens, only the rotor inside the caliper is what will prevent your wheel from flying off the car.

 

also it takes 15 minutes to swap the REARS. the fronts u have to take your spindle off and have the hubs pressed out. just take off your knuckles and take them and the new bearings to a machine shop, they will be able to help you out.

 

i wouldnt say it takes 15 minutes to do the FRONT wheel bearings. especially if you dont have a good press at hand. more like an afternoon job.

the rears are much easier. but you have to hope you dont have to deal with the inner race being seized to the spindle.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spoonfedcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">also it takes 15 minutes to swap the REARS. the fronts u have to take your spindle off and have the hubs pressed out. just take off your knuckles and take them and the new bearings to a machine shop, they will be able to help you out.</TD></TR></TABLE>

you can also use a slide hammer if you need to. Although it is a pain, ***** your hands up, and in my case popped lug nuts off and sent them flying around my yard. They have them at Autozone for free loaning

 

hell on VW's the entire tire ******* falls off the car.

had it happen on a older golf. lets just say that wasnt fun.