My 92 Accord has been making crazy loud noises for awhile coming from the left front wheel. It started out as a low roar, like loud road noise and gradually grew to a grinding noise. It was particularly pronounced when turning either way, even slightly.

My dad, who is a retired (for over 10 years) Honda Mechanic diagnosed it as a bad bearing. So today I pulled the whole thing off and replaced the hub/bearing assembly (with a salvaged one). In the process I busted the rotor and ended up sticking a crappy old rotor on it to drive it home from the in-laws garage (didn't really want to stay there for the night).

I replaced the axle about 5 months ago, and it still appears to be in great shape. The bearing/hub assembly I put in today was from a salvage yard and wasn't in phenomenal shape, but with 188k on it I figured a salvage part was probably acceptable.

On my way home the noise was even louder than it was before, but when I turn (even slightly) to the left it goes away entirely. It's a loud roar/grinding noise, that gets much worse when I turn right and goes away when I turn left. I really don't think it's the bearing because it makes the same noise as the old bearing, and I just find it unlikely that both hub/bearing assemblies would have the exact same problem. It does NOT make the familiar knocking noise that an axle cv joint makes when it's in need of replacement.

I'm not ruling anything out, but thought I'd see if you guys have any idea what might be going on?

 

It is very possible the bearing on the salvage yard part is bad; remember it is also 16-17 years old and may have alot of miles of wear on it and may have been exposed to the elements in the salvage yard.

Check with your dad for his opinion, which will probably turn out to be a bad wheel bearing.

 

I asked on here because my dad, who has been out of the business for about 10-15 years, said he wasn't positive it was the bearing if I replaced that and it had the same problem, though it could be that the salvage bearing was bad too ...

So I've been driving it a bit and nothing has changed. I'm becoming a bit more convinced that maybe there was a problem with the axle I put in it last spring, though not totally convinced.

I decided to buy a new bearing and that's being pressed onto the old hub today, so it should be ready by Saturday when I put it to work. I also bought a new axle and rotor (since it's apart anyways). I'm going to replace the bearing/hub and take it for a drive. If that doesn't do any good I'll replace the axle too. I'm hoping maybe there's a warranty on that old axle so I could take back the one I bought today ...