Wheel bearing type noise, but no "play" in wheels

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

89LX

Recently, I've noticed what sounds like classic failing wheel bearing noise at freeway speeds. "Obviously" left side, since it stops if I steer slightly left (taking some load off that side). I know wheel bearing noise, having once owned a Fiat 128, where wheel bearings only lasted 20,000 miles.

However, when I jack up the left side, I find:

1. Left rear -- spins freely with absolutely no looseness when I try to wobble the wheel.

2. Left front -- no looseness, but a few degrees of axial play, gseems to be the norm with CV joints. I haven't jacked up the right side for comparison.

So … what could be causing the noise? Aging left side drive shaft? Should I do a speculative drive shaft replacement? I so hate drive shafts because they never want to release from the gearbox.

[ryanprins13]

I had a rear wheel bearing make noise without being too tight or too loose once. Water got in either past the seal or a dent in my dust cap and kinda washed the grease out in the bearing. It was still spinning freely and when i took the bearing off it looked fine but when i went to repack it the little rollers all fell out....
With front bearings my current aspire swap has a huge amount of bearing play on the drivers front with absolutely no bearing noise. Super weird.
What i would suggest is first take the rear bearings out and repack them. If that doesnt fix them buy a new grease seal for the front and a grease needle. Remove the outer lca bolt, tie rod bolt and the axle nut. Pull the hub and strut away from the car and the cv shaft out of the hub, remove the grease seal and pump some good high temp bearing grease in there with the grease needle. Put the new seal in and the car back togeather and see what happens. As far as i know a bad cv shaft is clicking while turning. I have never heard of one sounding like a bad bearing but that doesnt mean it doesnt happen



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[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

I get no bad-CV-joint clicking sounds whatsoever.

I'll have a look-see inside the left rear wheel bearing. FWIW, I didn't notice the noise until about 500 driving miles ago.

I vaguely recall installing new rear wheel bearings (both sides) myself on this car a few years ago. Perhaps I didn't adequately grease them.

[ryanprins13]

I get no bad-CV-joint clicking sounds whatsoever.

I'll have a look-see inside the left rear wheel bearing. FWIW, I didn't notice the noise until about 500 driving miles ago.

I vaguely recall installing new rear wheel bearings (both sides) myself on this car a few years ago. Perhaps I didn't adequately grease them.

Oh? How far do you drive in a year? I remember when i got the festiva 11yrs ago the standard regrease interval for trailer bearings was 12k miles, so I do mine once a year at least since they seem like the same thing to me. I take the drum off, get rid of the brake dust, check the grease seal, free up my brake adjuster, repack the outer bearing and push grease into the inner bearing. Doesnt take too long, with steel wheels you dont even have to remove the rim. Makes it easier to get the nut the right tightness when putting it back togeather. I did it twice the year i drove 35k miles, but im not sure about the other years.
I wonder how often our rear bearings are supposed to be regreased, anyone know?

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[WmWatt]

You don't need to jack up the car to check for loose bearings. Just grab the top of the tire and try to wiggle. Before wiggling the rear wheels release the parking brake as it makes a sound like something is loose in the wheel. Another thing you might want to try is put the front end up on jack stands, start the engine, put the car in gear, stpe on teh gas, and listen for bearing noise as you increase the speed. Without the car's weight on the bearings you might not hear anything but maybe you will hear something.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

As be seen from the attached photo, there appears to be plenty of grease in the left rear wheel bearing.

I didn't remove the 21mm nut since it's pretty beat up and I need to see if I have a new one somewhere.

Could the noise possibly be the tires? Fronts are about 6 months old rears are about 2 months old. The noise COULD have started when I replaced the rear tires but I didn't notice it immediately. But .. if it were tires, why would the noise cease when I start a slight left turn (still remaining within my freeway lane)?

[ryanprins13]

There is a possibility that water got past the grease seal and the grease your seeing in that photo still looks fine but inside its not fine. However thats a bit doubtful. To me its worth taking off and looking just to know. Your drum looks nice and clean by the way!
Do you have an old set or spare set of tires you can try? I know some bigger truck and suv tires can be loud and sound like a wheel bearing that is starting to go but i have never heard it with a smaller tire.
With the regreasing interval i asked on the facebook group and some others. Sounds like if you tow or carry a lot of weight or get your rear axle submerged a yearly regrease is a good idea but that at least one guy has gone 200k miles without regreasing. I had no idea that was even possible.

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[WmWatt]

To see if the noise is in the tires rotate the tires and see if that changes anything. Just rotating tires can reduce or eliminate noise or shake or both. In this case "rotate" means taking the tire and rim off one wheel and swaping with the tire and rim on another wheel. "Rotate" is a pretty ambiguous word to use to describe the operation, as is "tire" when "tire and rim" is what is meant.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

Until a few weeks ago, after I first noticed the noise, we had no rain at all here in Seattle for 100+ days; the likelihood therefore of water having gotten into bearings is approximately nil.

I'll try temporarily replacing the rear wheels+tires with those from another Festy.

[ricko1966]

Wheel bearings do not have to have play to make sounds. If the races or rollers have pits in them they will make noise. I'd pull em clean em inspect em , Repack em if they are good . You can pull the seal without damage if you use the inner bearing to carefully drive them out working from the outter wheel brg side. I usually just take off the nut the outter brg and the washer put the nut back on and pull out on wheel a couple of times roteate repeat and the inner brg and seal will be on the stub. if you don't want to buy new seals.So all your out is a little time a little grease and the guess works over.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

I had to tend to some sudden out-of-town business and drive this car 500 freeway miles in the past 48 hours without swapping any tires.

The noise seems to getting louder -- to the extent that my brain still functions after 10 hours behind the wheel of a Festy!

[WmWatt]

Another thought. Brakes rubbing? Warm hubs can be brakes or bearings.

[WmWatt]

Another thought. Brakes rubbing? Front calipers not retracting? Sticking on dirty slider pins? Warm hubs can be brakes or bearings.

[Rick the Quick]

have you tried putting the transmission in neutral and coasting to eliminate the transmission as your source of the noise?

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

I happen to have installed new brake pads a few weeks ago. When I do that, I always clean up the caliper pins and lube the side-to-side slider sleeves.

I will try checking the wheel temps again and also check for noise when coasting.