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Old 09-19-2011, 05:06 AM   #7
Frodo
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Ohio
Posts: 1,999
Observations on the wheel bearing possibility:

I just, a few months back, replaced my right front wheel bearing. With mine, I heard it when moving fairly slowly, through first gear and maybe part way through second. Faster than that and the other sounds sort of drowned it out. It WAS consistently heard in those situations (did not "come and go"). It also did get more noticeable when negotiating a sweeping left turn at, say, fairly slow speed in second gear. Then it would again become less noticeable (but still there) when the steering was straightening out. Braking didn't seem to affect it one way or the other, other than the fact that (as the brakes slowed the vehicle) the frequency of the noise, of course, became lower pitched.

I was unable to find any issues with the push-pull test, on the upper/lower or left/right aspects of the tire...it felt tight and normal to me, whether the tire was on the pavement or jacked up off the ground. Spinning the wheel, slowly or fast, seemed normal as well.

I think I may have caught it pretty early---if I had let it go awhile, some of these 'tests' might have given me a different result.

I say all this while acknowledging that your problem may well be something entirely unrelated to the wheel bearing---loose heat shield or whatever. In fact, if you are driving at a constant speed NOT hearing the noise and then, out of the blue, start hearing it (not having changed speed), I would suspect that maybe it's NOT the bearing.
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