maximalover

I have looked at couple of messages.. I am newbie. did search too..
I have this humming sound and kind of feeling that some thing is slightly brushing the wheel.
I have read in in some posts that it could be a bearing. The sound increases when the speed increases. Of course till now it hasn't been a trouble to drive. But I don't want to assume it is fine and one fine day hell breaks loose..

By the way I have 93 Maxima SE...
one dumb question.. I lifted front of the car on jack stand last week. then will the wheels rotate smoothly if I turn the tire by hand(car was in netrual and hand brakes were on )
I felt there was some resistance when I tried to turn...

IS this indication of some kind of problem...?

Hope you put with dumb question..

Shadow1198

iTrader: (1)

Hehe. You have know idea what kind of verbal bashing you just avoided, from some of the guys on here, with those words! To answer your question, that definitely sounds like a bearing going bad. I would really have someone look at it, when you have a chance. Mine got so bad that the mechanic told me it would have burned up if I drove on it much more! Hmm...lately I've been having lots of suspension related problems? It seems like I need to replace bushings (whole new control arms), hubs/bearings, and some other stuff.

The resistance you are feeling is probably the PARKING BRAKE!

RosenKen

Not so fast there Shadow, last time I checked, the parking brake only works on the BACK brakes. He said he lifted up the front of the car.

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

Shadow, just SAYING you used search doesn't mean they actually did... I hear it all the time- you just don't see those posts because I delete them.

"I used search, but can't find it. does anyone make altezzas or a turbo kit for my 89 GXE?"


anyway, to the problem... wheel bearing failure is pretty hard to tell on this car since the CV joint adds a bit of flex into the front end. on older cars, you used to just be able to jack up the front end and try to rock the wheel back and forth by grabbing the top and bottom. if it moved, then the bearing was bad or the axle nut needed tightening.

On our cars, it's not to easy. If you've got a noise that increases with speed, it's possible to have a bad bearing, but it could also be CV joint or bushings or about 50000 other things. The first thing you need to do is remove the brake rotor and axle from the spindle, then turn the bearing with only the wheel hub attached and see what that feels like.
Best way to do this is to remove the brake caliper (two large bolts on the back. 17 or 19mm.) then pop off the rotor. be sure to break the large axle nut loose before you remove the front brakes, as often it takes someone standing on the brakes while I use an impact wrench on the axle nut to break it loose.

once you get all that off, remove the three nuts on the ball joint at the bottom, then pull the spindle straight out. the axle will stay in the tranny, and the spindle will be attached only to the bottom of the strut and the tie rod end.

check the bearing there, and if it's bad, replace it. If it's been bad for a long time, you might have to replace the wheel hub too, as was my case. They're around $50 for the bearing and $130 for the hub if you buy new. I'd suggest buying an entire spindle from a junkyard for $40, then replacing the bearing in it and simply swapping the whole thing onto your car.

There's also two dust seals on the outside of the bearing that should be replaced. the outer one is between the hub and spindle and can only be replaced while the bearing is out.

hope that helps..

medic

my mechanic did the exact same thing that matt described to determine if it was my bearings (it was), takes about 30 minutes to check with the right tools, maybe an hour for someone with no experience.

Shadow1198

iTrader: (1)

I know what you mean Matt!

Actually, I debated whether I should post that. I thought the parking brake only worked on the rear but, I wasn't completely sure. Actually, I am a complete moron! Sorry, I recently replaced my front rotors and pads so I DO know they only work on the back. I guess I wasn't thinking straight.

maximalover

Matt,
How do I know that wheel hub has gone bad?
Can you tell by looking at the hub it self or you need to do some thing?
I mean do you have remove or press out from the assembly it self.. or you can inspect the damage?
The reason I am asking is simple I am going to change the bearing tommorrow..
I don't want to go the machine shop to press the hub and bearing out then find out hub is bad.. I can't do any thing then.. !!

If I can find out it with out going to machine shop while dissassmble rotor knuckle let me know
what are the symptoms of bad hub..

Shadow1198

iTrader: (1)

Well, one way you can tell if a hub is bad is that you will hear a "knocking" when you turn in the direction of the bad hub. At least, that's how I understand it. I know both my right side hubs are bad and I hear some knocking when I turn to the right.

subs1000w

i always wondered what that clicking or knocking was when i turn to the right ill have to look into that also, im glad i read this post thank

thacker

i have a knocking in my front passenger side wheel whenever i hit a bump. could it be the same thing or is something really shot?

atulb84

iTrader: (1)

i get my car back from my mechanic on tuesday for the same thing. wheel hub bearing. thank goodness i got it fixed. it was close to 6 months driving with all that loud and annoying humming.

maximalover

Now did you got just wheel bearing replaced or both hub and bearing replaced..?

I am also having the humming sound.. Just wondering whether bearing is gone or along with that hub is also gone.. !!!

Tahnks for your reply..

klymkow

This might be the sway bar link that mounts between the sway bar and control arm. The rod can corrode and wear to the point that it will float in the mounting hole of the control arm and hit metal to metal when going over bumps or just turning.

Tim

atulb84

iTrader: (1)

both.

max95q

iTrader: (10)

Dang I got all of the above I think hopefully not the hub thing. Awhile back about 2-3 months ago I got ran off the road and slid into the opposite direction of traffic and was stopped by my front right wheel hitting the curb and the rest of the car following it . Hard! After that I had noticed some humming even at high speeds it gets louder and annoying. Also I took my wheel off and noticed that my sway bar link was floating in the middle between the two end links. I tried tightening it but that took forever and could only tighten so far after about 30-45 minutes of very hard manuevering of my hands. So I do notice a knock and also I have that same humming noise on majority front right and very low at high speeds for the right rear. I have a 2nd gen. I was hoping when you guys would post this. I didnt want to not get an answer from not searching or thinking much of it. To all thanks for me too.