rear wheel bearing - help

[brp987]

The bad bearing is on the driver side. The others are quiet. The weird thing is that the onset of noise was gradual. I tended to accept the noise as inherent to the car and began driving it less. Once I realized something was wrong I didn't know what to attribute it to, since I had bought new wheels, tires, and had an alignment done all around the same time. I hope a new bearing will solve this problem because it was beginning to sound like a truck with offroad tires.

For those diagnosing a noise problem, I noticed I could modulate the sound with braking. The noise was not altered by cornering. Ofcourse the sound remained upon taking it out of gear at any speed.

[brp987]

autopsy photos:

[spanos70]

Over the last couple months I've noticed the (slow) onset of noise coming from the driver-side rear wheel of my '01 with 49k. At first, I thought it was simply tire noise as cornering and braking did not cause any noise change. Over time the noise increased along with a slightly noticeable vibration. Also over time, I began to notice noise/volume to be altered when cornering the car.

I wish I realized it was the bearing sooner, as my mechanic had to remove the axle as it had seized to the hub and bearing assembly. Lucky for me the machine shop was able press out the axle, hub and bearing - but of course it cost me for the additional labor...

[eVoMotion]

My 02S is making noise again. I plan to take it to the dealer and get the other rear wheel bearing.

Here is another great write-up:
http://boxcar-racing.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=0722d73c35ea3ed070f1a173d53285 fd&topic=562.15