Gotta droning noise in my Festive

[Shazr]

Hi all: Bought a 1996 3-door hatch, manual trans, recently, and it has a loud (much louder than the engine) droning noise when the wheels are rolling - can anyone tell me what this might be?? Cheers Shazr

[chrisofna]

Wheel bearing, probably from the rear.

[georgeb]

You'll have to jack up each corner and spin the tire by hand or with engine.

[91_festy_Gl]

+2 on wheel bearings.

[NovaSS]

Wheel bearing, probably from the rear.

Yep my first guess to , common problem on Festiva, next in line would be a bad tire. Festivas tend to eat exhaust from the cat back. Nice thing is most of this is cheap

[Bert]

Rear wheel bearings are a chronic problem with Festys. A humming/droning noise is definitely symptomatic. Lift the car and spin the wheels. I've done rear bearings so often now that start to finish is only 1/2 hour. Use the old bearing outer races to help drive in the new ones. I also got rid of the crimp axle nut arrangement and went to slotted nut covers with a cotter pin through the axle. Late model Festys and Aspires already use that setup and drilling a hole through the spindle is not difficult.

[GenevaDirt]

Rear wheel bearings are a chronic problem with Festys. A humming/droning noise is definitely symptomatic. Lift the car and spin the wheels. I've done rear bearings so often now that start to finish is only 1/2 hour. Use the old bearing outer races to help drive in the new ones. I also got rid of the crimp axle nut arrangement and went to slotted nut covers with a cotter pin through the axle. Late model Festys and Aspires already use that setup and drilling a hole through the spindle is not difficult.

I wouldn't say they are CHRONIC problem. I have owned numerous Festy's....4 at the moment...over 15 years and I have never had to change a rear wheel bearing yet. At least not one that has went bad and NEEDED replaced. I have changed them on a couple just because I was doing brake work and already had the drum off and got in the mood to do it.
I know for some they have changed them multiple times but I would say it is a combination of installer error and cheap parts.

[Shazr]

Bad tyre? Sorry but I'm a complete novice with cars - how can a tyre go bad? They all have good tread and that's all I know. What's bad? And if it's a wheel bearing that's the problem, is this dangerous? Like do I have to get it fixed immediately, or can I wait until I don't have to borrow the money to fix it???

[Shazr]

Thanks - if it's a wheel bearing, is this dangerous? Like can I wait to fix it until I don't have to borrow money to do it, or should I not drive the car until I do fix it??

[Safety Guy]

I wouldn't drive it too much because if the bearing seizes up it could stop the tire from rolling and ruin your tire or even make your car hard to handle or crash.

Rear bearings are easy to change. Check them by listening to the sound they make when you go into a turn. The noise will probably change too.

Check them by making sure the parking brake is off and grabbing the tire at the top and shaking it. If you get a lot of play (more than about 1/16" at the tire tread) then you need to tighten or change them to new bearings.

Karl