Looking for advice..

[jcr5186]

Trying to get some issues worked out, I'll explain the problems and hopefully get some input from some of you.

It makes a sort of constant humming sound when driving straight and curving to the right above 40mph and louder the faster I go. If I curve to the left the humming goes away completely. Also if I got above 60mph the steering wheel starts to shake and the faster I go the worse the shaking gets. I recently installed all new suspension, cv axles, tie rod ends on the front end and replaced low rear control arm assemblies because the alignment shop said they were "seized" which they were.

I took it for an all wheel alignment after I did all of the above work and still have these problems. 2 years ago I replaced the wheels and tires and had them balanced thinking I was getting the humming from that but it was still there.

Hope to hear from someone.

Jon

[Austin@STM]

sounds like a wheel bearing issue.

[Polygon]

sounds like a wheel bearing issue.

+1

Humming is usually a wheel bearing.

[jcr5186]

When my front wheel bearing was bad it made a very high pitched squealing noise. I replaced the front's but not the rears. I will put them on the order list.

[Austin@STM]

When my front wheel bearing was bad it made a very high pitched squealing noise. I replaced the front's but not the rears. I will put them on the order list.

before you go ordering parts check them out first it could be something else. If your feeling it in the steering wheel its probably not the rear wheel bearings. One of the fronts might have gone bad again, or something else is causing the problem.

[GTOJOE]

We had a van come in to work for what sounded like a stuffed diff. Had been to another mechainc and they couldn't find the fault. 4 of us drove it and all thought diff. Pulled the diff and found nothing. Put it back together and drove it on the hoist with the rear wheels in the air. No noise. All 4 of use said the sound was coming from the rear end. Problem turned out to be the front left wheel bearing.
I would check all of them even the ones you replaced.

[jcr5186]

I know when I removed the fronts, they were so shot that one of them came apart when I removed it from the axle. I replaced them with the whole hub assembly which I got from the dealer. I couldn't imagine the fronts would go out again but I suppose anything could happen. Only problem I have is I don't have a garage/equipment to do anything where I live so I would have to drive it to a friends shop and do the work. It's a 2 hour drive so I don't want to be stuck driving there, putting it on the lift then ordering the parts and driving back again to do the work. I might just take my chances and order the rear wheel bearings and go replace them.

When I did the fronts everything went pretty smooth but is there anything special about the rear wheel bearings where I would need any special tools or other parts beside the rear hub assy's?

I suppose I could take it to an alignment shop here and have them take a look at it, I just hate letting other people do anything to my car.

Thanks for the advice so far.

Jon

[striker2]

Did you ever figure this out? I have a humming noise that sounds exactly as you describe. in my case it sounds like it is coming from the rear but I cant find anything wrong with the rear bearings, I have replaced the drivers side when i first bought it about 7K miles ago as it was extremely bad then. I replaced it again less than 1000 miles ago thinking it was bad again but it made no difference (yes i replaced both the inner and out bearings along with the dust shields). there is absolutely zero play in any of the wheels, so could it still be a wheel bearing, maybe a front wheel bearing?

[jcr5186]

Yea, the problem ended up being passenger side rear wheel bearing. Mechanic said it went away when I turned left because of the weight shift. The noise and high speed shaking are both gone after I changed the bearings in that wheel.

[striker2]

Yea, the problem ended up being passenger side rear wheel bearing. Mechanic said it went away when I turned left because of the weight shift. The noise and high speed shaking are both gone after I changed the bearings in that wheel.

thats strange, normally when you increase the load (by turning in the direction opposite the side the bearing is on) the noise gets worse. I assume yours also sounded like it was coming from the rear of the car? I guess I will have to find the time to get the car up in the air and get the passenger rear bearing replaced (probably has 227K miles on it so might as well anyways).

[jcr5186]

Maybe it depends on if it is the inner or outer bearing... You need a press for the job, took the dealership a day and a half, they said it was a pita. $235 parts and labor wasn't bad.

[striker2]

i was thinking it might have to do with like you said, whether its the inner or outer. I was also thinking that it might have to do with the AWS as well, since that will change the load on the bearing.

I have no problems replacing them, i did the drivers rear twice. honestly cant see why it took the dealer so long to do it as it should only take a few hours (I think it was about 2-3 last time from pulling the car in the garage to taking it for a test drive).

[striker2]

Figured i would update this for others.

finally have all the bearings replaced as of about 3 weeks ago. replaced both front hub/bearing assemblies first, and while it did help with some noise the main noise I had been hearing was still there. about 2 weeks later I got the time to replace the both bearings in the passenger rear and sure enough, the noise is now gone. the inner bearing seemed to be ok, but the outer bearing made a little noise and had a little play in it when spun by hand. the bearings are now nice and quiet again.