Bad Wheel Bearing?

AznXstazy

Member
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Mazda MP3
hey guys, wondering what kind of symptoms would a bad wheel bearing cause? right now i get this REALLY bad thumping from the passenger side front. my dad said it could be the wheel bearing and i think it could be too just cause i replaced the axle over there and might have over tightened the bolt. got the wheels balanced already. the noise went lower, but still there. getting worst as i drive it more. any ideas?
 
Questions you have like this that aren't MP3 specific, you might want to type in the general protege area, just to get more responses. But does it constantly thump? Is it a heavy sound (thick metal) or more of a tinny sound? Does it grind, or more of just two pieces hitting together? Does it do it more while turning, if so, does it do it more to one side than the other?
 
ya ill try posting in there later. the noise happens when going straight, but if i go in a right turn at a certain point of the turn there will be no noise, but as soon as i go back straight or turn to much right then the noise comes back. and yes constant thumping. not metal sounds like wheel need balance bad, but it doesn't. already got all 4 done and rotated. don't hear any grinding. can't tell if its coming from passenger or driver, but i think i hear more from passenger side.
 
As a general rule a bad bearing do not cause thumping type noises. A bad bearing usually exhibits a grinding or squealing type noise. Thumping noises could be a unbalanced wheel (as you already suspected) an out-of-round wheel/tire, or possibly a bad CV joint. Strange noises that come from the front and change dramatically with turning of the steering wheel often indicate problems with the CV joint.
 
^turning of the steering wheel can also either accentuate or attenuate noise generated by a bad wheel bearing ;)
 
Sounds like the same exact thing that happened to me a couple months ago. I had the same symptoms but at first I didn't think it was a bearing since there was no metal grinding sound and there was no "wiggle" when you yanked on the wheel. After a couple days finally went to a mechanic friend and he replaced the passengers side bearing and the noise went away. If the sound goes away when you turn right that means most likely your passenger side front bearing is going/has gone bad.
 
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I'd check the CV joint first. That usually doesn't make a noise going straight, just when you turn. And it's louder/worse on the side you're turning to (turning right, it'll be worse and it's the right CV). Doesn't really sound like a wheel bearing, but like MP3performance said, same thing happend to him.

Done any work on the brakes lately? My roommate in college had a bad experience where the top caliper bolt was either forgotten, or not tightened. The caliper "leaned" away from the rotor and was rubbing the rim. It had a "thump" noise to it. This is the WAY extreme end of possibilities, but it's more stuff to rule out.
 
I'd check the CV joint first. That usually doesn't make a noise going straight, just when you turn. And it's louder/worse on the side you're turning to (turning right, it'll be worse and it's the right CV). Doesn't really sound like a wheel bearing, but like MP3performance said, same thing happend to him.

Done any work on the brakes lately? My roommate in college had a bad experience where the top caliper bolt was either forgotten, or not tightened. The caliper "leaned" away from the rotor and was rubbing the rim. It had a "thump" noise to it. This is the WAY extreme end of possibilities, but it's more stuff to rule out.


Defiantly check around the cv axle before you do anything. In my situation I ended up taking apart both cv axles, both sides of brakes, and even the bearing on the axle right behind the engine. All this because I was convinced this sound could not be coming from a wheel bearing.
 
ya im not sure. i was searching and a prelude had the same problem as i was describing and it was his bearing. i thought it was my axles too, but i looked no rips nothing loose. i will keep you guys updated on what it is. gonna start taking stuff apart before school next week.
 
k guys, weathers been crappy and i dont have a garage so work on the car is slow. but i wanted to get others opinions before i start taking stuff apart.

so to sum things up
- i make a left turn noise gets louder and more faster
- i make a right turn at a certain spot where i don't to to much right and not going straight the car will NOT make the noise.

so you guys think its the passenger side bearing? i never messed with that side. i did change the knuckle on the driver side. so maybe its the driver bearing? but the noise and passengers say they can feel it a lot on the passenger side.

what do you guys think?
 
it is your passenger side wheel from what you say. the reason is when you turn left the right tire (passenger side) becomes the outside tire on the turn, meaning the load of the car is transferred more onto that wheel. Since there is more load on the wheel the bearing is being "squished" and thus amplifying the sound. the second point you posted also happened to me when I had the bearing problem, it wouldn't make any noise if I held it perfectly straight or a tiny bit to the right.

I think we need someone else to chime in since I don't want it to turn out that I have been saying all this stuff about bearings and such and in the end it is something else ;)
 
ya i know. just trying to get other peoples opinions on what they think. i never touched that sides bearing before, but the driver side i did change the knuckle before with a new bearing, but i don't think i overtorqued the bolt. i did it till it was tight then a 1/4 turn back. hopefully weather lets up for me to check tomorrow.
 
You may not have torqued the bolt enough. That bolt is supposed to be at least 200 ft-lb. When I did mine a few weeks ago, I ended up getting a 3 foot breaker bar, and making my 70 lb little brother stand on it. Voila! 70x3=210 ft-lb
 
I vote passenger bearing. Also like slavrenz said though, you might want to get the correct torque spec and check the driver's side too.
 
Bad CVs make a clicking noise when turning, get underneath look at the cv boots see if they're torn. Bad bearings usually hum, moreso at hwy speeds when they first start going, then make a scraping sound when turning the car, near the end of their life. If the bearings are real bad there will be a small amount of play when you grab the tire and push/pull against it. A misbalanced or bad tire will create a shake in the steering wheel.How many miles on the car?



could be the cv joint
 
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It's the wheel bearings I just had mine replace. The noise was coming from both driver and passenger side. The wheels bearing are supposed to be packed but tech gave my wheel bearings back split in half with grease all over. You can check by moving your wheel around when jacked. Also, it makes a thump, thump, thump x1000 while driving and get vibrating while breaking. Labor cost alone was $260 for both sides.
 
ya that sounds almost like what mines doing. k so it is the wheel bearing. p5mojo did you do both bearings or just one?

i know its not the cv axles. i have no play in the wheel when i have it jacked. the driver side spins free'r than the passenger side. and ya ill probably try to retorque the nuts.
 
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