Roar, front end , front wheel bearings?

I just started having some noise recently faint at first. I thought it may have been from tire pressure because my sensors said low air, so i pumped my tires up. I am close to needing new tires, so i went ahead and rotated to see if maybe that would fix the roar. It still roars, but i think its coming from the left front. this is a 2008 CX9 GT with 93000 miles. I believe the tires are original. I will have to jack the car up and check for sure. If it is the wheel bearings, how difficult would this be to DIY? I have mechanical ability, i may even have most of the tools needed. I would greatly appreciate an honest opinion if anyone else has experienced this so far....

If your 9 is AWD, then the transfer case is always suspect also.

But since you didn't mentioned AWD, I would be suspect of wheel bearings. They seemed to be a problem on these cars. I was at the dealership this morning for the first time since the car was bought last summer. I asked the service writer what was the most common repair with the CX-9s. He mentioned the remotes needing batteries. I asked about the transfer cases and he said they sell so few AWDs down here that they don't see them coming in for that much. He then followed up by saying that the bearings seem to have a short life, but thought it was a bigger problem up north. There are a handful of threads that mention trouble with wheel bearings. I haven't worked on this car yet, but it shouldn't be too difficult. You might think about replacing the brakes if they've never been done as long are you are going to have everything apart. Kind of a "while you're in there" thing. And, if one side has a bad bearing, I'd be inclined to do the other as well given the history.

If you want to try to figure out which side is bad, take it for a drive (at your own risk - assuming the roar/grinding isn't too bad yet) and then check center of the wheels to see if one side is significantly hotter than the other. An infrared thermometer also comes in handy.

There should be a million how-to videos on youtube for wheels bearings!

From other threads.

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123841406-Symptoms-of-a-bad-transfer-case




http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123845090-Strange-rumble-vibration-issue-at-low-speed




http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123833978-Wheel-bearing-quality




http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...earings-Front-Seal-Leakage-130k-New-2013-CX-9!





http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...Rear-Wheel-Bearing-Replacemtn-Is-DIY-possible




http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123817246-2008-CX-9-Wheel-Bearing-Warranty




http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...el-bearings-replaced&highlight=wheel+bearings

I just changed mine, its a big job. Don't attempt without a press and a good compliment of tools. Many aspects of this repair are a challenge:
1.) The socket to remove the axle nut or at least the one I used is a 1 3/8"
2.) Separating the axle shaft requires a good size brass punch
3.) Removing the lower ball joint can be a challenge, get a good chisel and spread open the pinch area; then apply some penetrating oil and let it sit over night. When going back together you can clean up the shaft "groove" with a grinder but be careful you just need to grind off rust.
4.) Once the knuckle is removed you will need a good press with fixtures to press out the old and in the new bearing.

You will be surprised at how quiet the CX-9 is when the repair is complete! Mine must have been going bad for some time and I didn't notice until it was a very loud howl.

I remembered that i bought an extended warranty through CarMax gof for 100,000miles...i have almost 94000 on the car now...I took it to a Mazda dealer yesterday. It was the wheel bearings. All i had to pay is $250 for the deductible. i guessing that these bearings go out due to the 20in wheels, maybe Mazda needs to upgrade to a beefier front end with a beefier bearing.

the tires are original??

how much tread life is left on them? worn tires can certainly make a roaring noise, even if you rotated them.

Mine went south too after 130,000 miles. Right front was so bad they had to replace the wheel hub. Left side only replaced the bearing. You can definitely hear the roaring/groaning when turning the steering wheel right or left. No noise when driving straight. Did the repair with the free front control arm recall (they replaced both for free). Total was $900 for the bearings and one hub. This is a repair I couldn't do myself since you have to have the press and tools to press out the old bearing and press new ones in.

93k awd started making this sound about 5k miles ago. No difference in sounds when turning that I can tell. https://www.dropbox.com/s/b0596hesqa8o8yp/20190316_075819.mp4?dl=0

to know if it's a wheel bearing, at the speed that it does it, turn the steering left and right like if you were doing a ladder with imaginary cones on the road (make sure no one else is around) and if the sound changes depending on the side you are then it means you have a bad wheel bearing

Reggie Watts said:

93k awd started making this sound about 5k miles ago. No difference in sounds when turning that I can tell. https://www.dropbox.com/s/b0596hesqa8o8yp/20190316_075819.mp4?dl=0

Click to expand...

My left rear wheel bearing started to go bad at 85k miles.

It is hard to describe, but I knew something was wrong when I couldn't hear the normal noises the transmission in my CX-9 makes. There is a quiet whining noise that the transmission normally makes while cruising/coasting, and one day I couldn't hear it anymore - it was replaced by a grinding noise, coming from the rear of the car. It slowly got worse over time.

I took it to a mechanic, who put chassis microphones on the car to isolate it to the left rear. There wasn't enough play in the bearings yet to feel that they were bad by wiggling the tire.

$400 for a new hub and bearing and I can now hear the "normal" transmission noise.

jal142 said:

My left rear wheel bearing started to go bad at 85k miles.

It is hard to describe, but I knew something was wrong when I couldn't hear the normal noises the transmission in my CX-9 makes. There is a quiet whining noise that the transmission normally makes while cruising/coasting, and one day I couldn't hear it anymore - it was replaced by a grinding noise, coming from the rear of the car. It slowly got worse over time.

I took it to a mechanic, who put chassis microphones on the car to isolate it to the left rear. There wasn't enough play in the bearings yet to feel that they were bad by wiggling the tire.

$400 for a new hub and bearing and I can now hear the "normal" transmission noise.

Click to expand...

I would probably do it for half price at least as DIY. it's on bolts, pretty simple to replace

My fronts starting making humming noise at around 145k. Had a repair shop replaced them with timkens and since been good with now over 213k.

My rears, Ive replaced myself after hearing the hum too @153k. I had someone drive the car while I sat in the rear seats listening while (2wd sport model) to confirm. Rears are easy to replace in 2wd models!

Bad news was I bought some timkens for the rears and thinking theyll last to at least another 100k but the rear left didnt. Started humming again over 40mph. Just swapped both rears again with some cheap TRQ hub bearings at 213k and all is silent again.

Not sure what the problem is since my alignment is good, tires balance, wear is even, no cupping tires, shocks are good, no towing, off-roading, etc.