Need advice please. Front end pull and noise

xxxl

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2007 Mazda 5
I have a 07 GT, 113k miles.
I bought my 5 last year. Just in the last few days it's started to make a loud humming/vibrating noise from the passenger side front. Also has started to pull kinda hard to the right. The sound increases above 20mph, and stops if making slight right turns, and increases on slight left hand turns.

I have read a little about it, and have found a lot of posts about replacing the front wheel bearings. I also read about needing to replace the axle half shaft.

Here's my questions.
Am I on the right track, and what would be the first place to start?
Do you recommend replacing the axles or the bearings or?
Does anyone know what the shop time is for either one?
I've always done all my own work, but I am not able to anymore due to a back injury. My mechanic wants to know the best route to take to just fix the problem so we don't have to keep going back to the same issue, he hasn't worked on these before.
Anything else that we should change, replace or look for while it's on the rack?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
 
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humming sounds like bearing.
Your mechanic should be able to trouble shoot bearings no matter the car make. Normally when they fail after a 15 minute drive you can use IR temperature gun to measure temperature differences
and the failed bearing will be much warmer compare to the working one on the other side.
He should also have a tool like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned) to connect to various car parts to isolate noise location, save a tone of guess work.
 
Hard to tell without jacking up that corner and spinning the wheel...

If you are in a salt use area, the things I think of first for your problem are the: Caliper bolts seizing, or failing wheel bearing.

Your description and the change depending upon load, makes me lean towards the bearing.
 
FWIW, I replaced both my bearings b/c I was getting nasty grinding/whirring noises on the right front. Turned out to be engine/frame contact b/c that motor mount was shot. Anyway, mounts are cheap and anyone can replace them, so be sure to eliminate that first.
 
Thanks. We've come to the conclusion it's the wheel bearings. Left front is tight, but right front has about a 1/2" of play. We're going to replace both sides. Everything else seems to look ok.

One last question. I really don't have the funds to do this right away. Is it unsafe to drive it for a month or so? I live in a pretty small town (5k people max) and we don't go out on the highway at all, so driving is pretty minimal. Is it ok to drive as it is till I can order the parts? I have all my extra funds going to fix our winter vehicle so its ready for when the snow starts flying. (I live in Montana)
Does anyone off the top of their head know all the part numbers I need?
Thank you for your advice folks.
Enjoy your day.
 
Thanks. We've come to the conclusion it's the wheel bearings. Left front is tight, but right front has about a 1/2" of play. We're going to replace both sides. Everything else seems to look ok.

One last question. I really don't have the funds to do this right away. Is it unsafe to drive it for a month or so? I live in a pretty small town (5k people max) and we don't go out on the highway at all, so driving is pretty minimal. Is it ok to drive as it is till I can order the parts? I have all my extra funds going to fix our winter vehicle so its ready for when the snow starts flying. (I live in Montana)
Does anyone off the top of their head know all the part numbers I need?
Thank you for your advice folks.
Enjoy your day.

I DIYd this a few thou miles ago. If you have an air compressor, you can buy a $60 air gun and the correct size socket at Harbor Freight (A great place to buy stuff that will be used infrequently b/c its usually the cheapest Chinese product available). My socket is at home so I can't confirm the size, but I THINK it could have been 43mm. This is for the axle nut. The rest can be used with normal metric sockets 10mm-19mm. Anyway, what is involved is taking off the wheels, brake calipers, rotors and hubs. The bearing is inside the hub and needs to be pressed out and the new one pressed in. I found a machine shop that would do it for $20/side. The hub is connected to the strut by a couple of bolts and that is no big deal, but the ball joint and the tie rod both have booted joints. Getting the tie rod out is also pretty easy w/o braking the boot, but I broke both ball joint boots, so I had to buy new joints, pull out the LCAs and pay to have them pressed in. That is b/c IDK how to get them out except with the pickle, which pretty much always breaks the boot. A heavy hammer I heard does the job w/o busting the joint up. If I hadn't busted up the ball joints, this was about a $150 repair including tools.
BTW, I got Timkin bearings on Rockauto.com. I did the research and felt that was the best choice, but YMMV.
 
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Thanks. We've come to the conclusion it's the wheel bearings. Left front is tight, but right front has about a 1/2" of play. We're going to replace both sides. Everything else seems to look ok.

One last question. I really don't have the funds to do this right away. Is it unsafe to drive it for a month or so? I live in a pretty small town (5k people max) and we don't go out on the highway at all, so driving is pretty minimal. Is it ok to drive as it is till I can order the parts?

My concern with letting a failed bearing go untouched is the danger of damaging the wheel hub which could lead to further costs and safety issues. On another vehicle, my hub was in good shape when the bearing had to be replaced. Had I gone longer, I probably would have had to replace the hub too which would have likely doubled the repair bill.

Hope you are able to get it straightened out soon.

P.S. As to quality parts choices, here is what I have in my records for the front (either generation of the 5): SKF FW201, National 510096, Timken WB000028.
 
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Thanks much! I've pretty much got all the tools. Where I live there isn't a tool retailer within a 3 hour drive....lol the nearest Walmart is over 120 miles away. If Albertsons (grocery store) or Oriellys doesn't have it we have to order it. The joys of living in the middle of nowhere Montana!
Hoping to have it on the rack the first of next month.
Really appreciate yalls help. Thank you.
 
1 month should be fine if you drive little.
Plus yo don't need a Walmart or Harbor freight next to you, just need a post office, they ship :)
 
Glad it is something you can tackle. The bearings aren't too expensive IIRC, so GL on freeing up the cash you need so it gets done sooner rather than later.
 
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