Wheel bearing replacement - which side?

[cramez]

99 Grand Prix GT again, there is an almost constant humming noise coming from the front end at any speed above 20 mph. I'm assuming one of the wheel bearings crapped out, but I put the front end in the air and there's no play in the wheel on wither side. No play in the CV joints either. The tires on the car are cheap junk, but to be making that much noise I would think that they would be lumpy or somehow wearing badly, which they're not.

Any suggestions on figuring out which side is bad, or anything else that might make the same noise? I thought about just replacing both, but Napa shows $185 a side, so I'd rather not unless they both need it.

[LuminaPower92]

Did you try rotating the tires? I would try that first, they you know yes or no if its the tires. Usually a tire would cause this if uneven tire wear or cupping but ive seen otherwise noise caused simply by the treads themselves, like my MX6. Give that a shot first. If its still up front, try to find which side, while driving down the road turn left or right to see if it gets loader or quieter. Let us know.

[Artemis]

$185 per side is too much, I think I paid $120 per side at Canadian Tire, I imagine its gotta be cheaper in the states. I would lift one side of the car and spin the tire, see if the bearing makes any noises, as long as the tire isn't touching the ground it should give you a pretty good idea.

[CSI_MuNkY]

$185 per side is too much, I think I paid $120 per side at Canadian Tire, I imagine its gotta be cheaper in the states. I would lift one side of the car and spin the tire, see if the bearing makes any noises, as long as the tire isn't touching the ground it should give you a pretty good idea.

At $120 each you either got them on sale or got the Chinese made ones. My rear SKF's cost me $200 each, CT wanted even more.


My only other thought would be to rotate the hub to see if there is any grinding in the bearing. But you would need to get them off the car, or at least get the CV shaft pushed out of the way so they would rotate without the shaft.

Jamie

[5speedz34]

Guaranteed it's the bearings. Take the wheels off and spin the hub, if you feel any grinding or play they need to be replaced. With that said, tons of late model GM's have that hub and they go bad by the nature of the design. So chances are they are both bad, or once you replace one you'll need to replace the other. $180 is about what they run, make sure not to get Asian crap.

As for telling which side is humming, trying taking a turn. IE-If howling while going left, then the right side is bad.

[Andrew]

its hard to tell if it has play by grabbing the wheel. take it off and try moving the hub by hand. any side to side play is bad.

[rockfangd]

usually for the front when you turn to the left and it gets louder it means the opposite bearing is bad. It always worked for me

[95 vert]

I use a stethescope. Get the front end off the ground,block the rear wheels, put the car in gear and stick the stethescope up to the hub/spindle on both sides and you'll be able to tell which one it is. Stethescope can be had at most parts stores pretty cheap.

[89SupremeCutty]

put the front of the car on jacks and put on hand on the spring and use the other hand to spin the wheel. if you feel a vibration, you have a bad wheel bearing.