Hi all,

I've got another question. It seems that my car has developed the need to vibrate (which I feel in the seat and the steering wheel) from 65mph on up to 75 (I haven't gone faster since I noticed it, and probably won't). I suspected it to be the front passenger wheel being out of balance since when I checked on it, it had 0 weights on it. I either threw them off or the shop I had install my tires (back in June) needs to close down.

Well this morning I had the fronts road-force balanced on a new Hunter machine here in town, and it seemed to have helped some, however it is still reacting mostly the same.

I have noticed that there is a bit more tire noise lately than there used to be (I attributed it to wear as tires do typically get a bit louder later in life), but when I take a right hand turn at some speed (such as an off ramp) the tire noise almost completely goes away. When the turn starts to straighten out or I drop some speed, the noise comes back. I plan to get the rear wheels/tires looked at now, but was wondering what else this could be? I searched and it appears that it could be a wheel bearing or a bent wheel (either of these I hope not). Any diagnostic tips are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

Could be rotors out of balance. I've never tried balancing them so IDK what to do there. DO a visual inspection and check the back sides also.
Could be in need of alignment.
Could be bearings. Check by lifting the corner and grabbing the tire and see if you can tilt it up down or pull in-out.
Could be bent rim also. The tire shop should have said something so probably not.

My Focus has been doing this and I've had 2 sets of tires worn through (not because of, just due to mileage) and I still have not found the cause. I suspect my rotors at this point or water in the wheel due to condensation.

 

What tires are you running?

 

I had the exact same symptoms on my car and it did turn out to be the wheel bearing. It was pretty easy to diagnose. I jacked up the front and took the wheel and caliper off and just spun the bearing with my hand. Although there was no slack in the bearing that I could feel with the wheel on shaking it back and forth and up and down when I spun the bearing by itself you could feel the roughness in the bearing.

I replaced both of mine in the driveway in a couple of hours or so with SKF bearings. Good Luck.

 

Sounds like a wheel bearing for sure, but loud tires and a wheel bearing can sound similar. The fact that it goes away on right turns is a sure sign to me. Get on an open section of road (with nobody else around), and swerve back and forth to load the left and right tires. The noise should go away as the wheel with the bad bearing is unloaded.

Sounds like you have a bad right front wheel bearing. You can now verify with a mechanic's stethoscope tool. With the front wheels off the ground, spin each wheel and listen on the hub/bearing area with the stethoscope. You will hear the difference and it will be obvious which one is bad. The C6 bearings are expensive, so you want to be sure you have the right one.

Hope that helps,

Andy

 

Hankook Ventus Evo K12 tires in stock sizes


Thanks all for the replies. Looks like I have a bit of diagnostic work in front of me. I'll try to get it figured out this weekend, meanwhile, do you think it is safe to drive? This is my DD unfortunately, and my father (who I'd definitely want helping me) lives 2 hours away.

Also, where's the most economical means of acquiring the bearing assemblies? Any diys to be seen?

Sorry for all of the questions. Unfortunately I was gearing up to do a header/intake manifold install but I suppose this is a bit more pressing .

I installed a spindle duct kit a few months ago, so fortunately I'm familiar with the area, but will these instructions be good for me to follow? Seems pretty simple!

 

Is it true that this Timken piece is the same as the OEM part?

 

Well I went ahead and got to diagnosing tonight, and I'm fairly certain that my issue lies in my passenger rear wheel bearing.

I took the fronts all the way apart and spun the actual hubs and everything sounded normal to me. I took a couple of videos with my phone to see if anyone would mind telling me if it sounds normal. The videos didn't come out great, but it didn't sound gritty or anything and felt smooth but I'm not sure what it is really supposed to sound like. Experts please tell me otherwise. (video 1 lets you hear the sound, video 2 gives you an idea of how freely it is spinning)

video 1:

video 2:


Don't worry about the visual part of the video as I was trying to get the mic to hear the hub as well as I could. Sorry if you have vertigo , and I guess I threw a crotch-shot in there by accident---sorry! The cat litter container was there to hold the rotor/caliper upright to keep tension off of the line! And yes, everything is rusty. When I get another job (recently unemployed ) zinc coating my rotors is going to be one of my next projects.

There is 0 slack in either of the fronts. Of course, I was more focused on the passenger side since when the load leaves that side all noise ceases to exist.

I didn't even have to take apart the rear to notice a problem though, when I hold the tire at 12-6 and wiggle (y-axis), there is a decent amount of slack (1/16"-1/8") that doesn't exist in any of the other wheels. When held 9-3, there is little to no slack though.

I'm fairly certain the rear is my problem, but I was unable to tear the rear fully apart since my wife was calling me in .

On a side note, I'm glad I was inspecting everything because I found a screw right smack dab in the middle of my driver's side rear tire .

I'm a young guy trying to learn how to take care of things myself, but I don't want to throw money where it isn't needed.

I very much appreciate anyone's time who is willing to look.

 

This what I need for the rear?

 

Anyone mind listening to my videos? : I'm having second thoughts as to what a good one should sound like after watching a few other videos. The fact that it doesn't freely spin with no brake on is what is worrying me. I don't want to order the wrong part...