bearing replaced, popped sway link replaced, and switched tires yet car still noisy

C

cutchemist

Member
So about 5 weeks ago, I went to a cabin in Manitoba that involved 40 minutes of gravel slightly bumpy road driving, so 80 minutes in total. The highway is rated at 90kms/hr still if that means anything. Car sat for 5 days until I needed to drive it again and thats when the terrible noise appeared. The car was also failing the swerve test when turning to the right which made me think bad bearing. The sound seems to come from infront of me, which is why I thought it was the driver side front area. Also, when I drive with my window open, I get a cyclical ssss sound as the sound bounces off curbs/cars/etc. The sway bar link was also popped out of its socket at the sway bar end as well I did the following:

-Switched around tires to see if noise followed a tire, it did not
-Replaced the bearing, improved the noise but still didn't get rid of it. Car still failed the swerve test.
-Replaced both rotors and pads while I was at since they needed to be done.
-Replaced the sway bar link next since the ball part popped right out of the socket. Car feels great again, but noise is still there plus it still fails swerve test.
-Tried switching around tires again with all those repairs done, still same symptoms.

So yeah, car still makes increasing road noise with speed, and is noisy until I turn to the left. CV axle? Bearing improperly replaced by shop?

Thanks for the help.
 
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tweety2300 said:
Sticking caliper

Or a rock stuck in a pad. Check for grooves in the rotors
Click to expand...

The thing is, on the side where the noise is coming from, when I replaced the rotor/pads, the caliper was sliding good on the pins. I still lubed it up more anyway but I honestly thought it was still good. It's been making the same sound both before and after rotor/pad replacement. Replacing the bearing slightly improved the sound.
 
The swerve test is telling here...it really does sound like a bearing issue. I know this sounds crazy, but it might be the bearing on the other side. Which side did you replace? My experience has been that the passenger side bearings tend to go bad first.

Additionally, did you change rotors and pads on both sides? Could you have a rear rotor that is making the "sssss" noise? Could it be a rear bearing? These are all things to check out. The easiest way to diagnose is to jack the car up one side at a time and spin each wheel by hand. You should hopefully be able to tell more once that is done.
 
MazdaSpeeder said:
The swerve test is telling here...it really does sound like a bearing issue. I know this sounds crazy, but it might be the bearing on the other side. Which side did you replace? My experience has been that the passenger side bearings tend to go bad first.

Additionally, did you change rotors and pads on both sides? Could you have a rear rotor that is making the "sssss" noise? Could it be a rear bearing? These are all things to check out. The easiest way to diagnose is to jack the car up one side at a time and spin each wheel by hand. You should hopefully be able to tell more once that is done.
Click to expand...
+

The thing is, it was only the one wheel where once in the air that would be noticeably different to spin. This was after replacing pads and rotors on both sides.

So basically my noise is heard only when turning right and going straight ahead. The noise disappears once I turn left. Driver side bearing was replaced since thats how I imagined it to work. Turning left so pressure is taken off the driver side.

One other thing to mention is that to get rid of the sound, it only requires the slightest turn to the left. I'm really going to try to make a video maybe to show this.

Also concerning the sound, is it possible for a rearward sound to sound so clearly infront of me when I'm driving?
 
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From my experience, bearings can be tricky to pin down when driving. so, you say that you spun all four wheels and only the driver's side made any sort of noise...when you spin it after the bearing replacement, does it no longer make the noise? You can also pull on the wheels and see if they have top to bottom movement...this is also indicative of a bad bearing.
 
It's your passenger side hub bearing, mine is out too. i crashed mine and after i fixed it my spindles were bent so i just used a camber kit and straightened them out. once everything was put back is when i realized my bearing was grinding. i had already put it all back so i said **** it, next time i change my breaks ill get a new one popped in. i aligned it myself so my alignment is off a bit, it has a slight pull to the left. when i release my steering wheel the grinding stops. anytime i straighten it out or turn right it grinds.
 
MazdaSpeeder said:
From my experience, bearings can be tricky to pin down when driving. so, you say that you spun all four wheels and only the driver's side made any sort of noise...when you spin it after the bearing replacement, does it no longer make the noise? You can also pull on the wheels and see if they have top to bottom movement...this is also indicative of a bad bearing.
Click to expand...

Well none were actually making noise when spun alone, which I hear is possible though. Even with no contact on the tie by caliper/pads (only tried front 2 with caliper off), only the driver side front felt like it had more resistance. Now, both tries spin normally when in the air after I replaced the driver side bearing. None of the wheels had play.

I really don't see how it could be the passenger side when it only fails the swerve test to the right? (when pressure is put on the driver side of the car)
 
hmm, interesting. however i still think it is an alignment problem. its not just left to right alignment that needs to be checked but inner and outter too. if your WHEELS (all of them) are not perfectly straight in all four angles your hub will grind that bearing even if its new.
 
Everything sounds to me like the passenger wheel bearing. I had all the same symptoms, and like you I thought it was the driver side wheel bearing. I don't have the tools to do it myself so I took it to a shop, and when they called me to tell me it was done, they said the driver side one was in perfect shape and it was the passenger one that was bad.

For what it's worth, that was the third time I had to have the passenger wheel bearing replaced. It's been pretty good since then though. Driver's side bearing I've only had replaced once. It's been fine since.

I'll bet a nice shiny quarter (American, not Canadian, sorry) that it's that passenger side wheel bearing.
 
I only said sticking caliper because my Buick did the same thing, I thought it was a wheel bearing as well
 
yeah I would have sworn it was my driver side bearing when I got the noise. Just to be positive, I put it on SOLID frame stands and then started it and ran it in gear while elevated. Then I walked around and knew it was the passenger side. Swapped it out - problem solved. (Did I mention SOLID? And I never stepped in front of the running car...)
 
Swerve test isn't difinitive. guy at the shop I used to work at was working on an explorer and replaced the LF bearing (made noise turning right, like you) 3 times before he came to me and after some looking and thinking, had him replace the right front and viola, noise gone and you could feel the grittyness in the RF bearing.

As I just said in another thread do someone else, I've done hundreds of bearings and 80% had a unique sound/feel/vibration.
 
Ive usually found it's best to do bearings in a pair (front axles/rear axles). If ones going then the chances of the other side following close behind are pretty good.
 
RABID_MP5 said:
yeah I would have sworn it was my driver side bearing when I got the noise. Just to be positive, I put it on SOLID frame stands and then started it and ran it in gear while elevated. Then I walked around and knew it was the passenger side. Swapped it out - problem solved. (Did I mention SOLID? And I never stepped in front of the running car...)
Click to expand...

What he said,... I did the same thing and found that I could get the noise to happen with the wheels spun up (the guy at the shop say's they put the car on rollers so they can spin it up with all the weight of the car on the wheels).



From what I've gathered in doing both bearings and disassembling my old bearings, is that the bearing is only bad on one side (usually the CV shaft side). Each bearing has two sets of ball bearings in a cage with an inner and outer race for each cage.

When you do the steering test, the pressure is still on each bearing but the pressure shifts from the left side to the right side of each bearing unit. That will either put the pressure on or away from the bad side of the bearing.

In other words,... If you were to take the bad bearing off from whatever side it is on and simply flip it and reinstall it on the same side,.. I'm 90% sure the steering test would yield the noise in the opposite way. (does that make sense ???)

I'm pretty sure the steering test doesn't tell you what side the bad bearing is on,... it tells you what side of the bearing is bad,... wherever that bearing turns out to be located.

Here's a couple of pictures of my bad bearing,... It's only bad on one side of the bearing,.. so when the pressure is off that side, it was quiet.

20130815_132124_zps2a9e4233.jpg


20130815_132351_zps8a8c3d93.jpg
 
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I had kinda forgotten which way I steered to get the noise and which bearing I did first but after watching my video again I remembered that it was the drivers side bearing that was bad and that it was a steering left that made it loud.

The steering direction was wrong for indicating what side of the car had the bad bearing but it was the engine side of the drivers side bearing that was rusted and steering left would put the pressure on the rusty side of that bearing (even though there is more pressure on the right side of the car),... so I think my assumptions are lining up.
 
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