What are the symptoms of a bad wheel bearing, and how would i go about checking mine??
Story in a nutshell: while accelerating or coasting along the road, foot off the gas, i have a metallic scraping sound coming from the rear drivers side wheel. This happens at all speeds, only at high speeds it is inaudible due to the wind noise. When i press on the brakes, this scraping noise stops.
So, i take the tire off and notice the brake pad looks to be pressed against the rotor like its not releasing fully. I spin the rotor and theres more friction than there should be, and it does make a similar noise while it scrapes along. Problem with this is the passenger side brake pad looks the same way (pressed against rotor) but no noise, no scraping or friction.

I was pretty convinced it was my caliper not releasing all the way because the pin is rusted/dirty, or my brake lines are clogged or effed up. But someone more knowledgable told me it could very well be my wheel bearing, and if so, it needs to be fixed ASAP. How do i find out if my wheel bearings are bad/damaged. Im googling/researching this myself right now, but help me out if you know anything, before i go buying new calipers/rotors/pads.

 

it has to be the caliper... take it out and check the rubber seal... if it is broken get a bottle of WD40 and clean inside the seal, you will have to rent the tool to retract the piston back and forth. That happened to me and now the problem is gone. Hope it is the same.......

 

Rent a tool what about a c-clamp.

 

not on the rear ones... in the front the C clamp works.. but in the rear the piston is like a screw so you will need a special tool to retract the piston or the screw...

 

Instil, I had the same EXACT problem a couple of weeks ago and it drove me nuts. What we did was take the assembly back off and analyze everything. We couldn't really find a problem until I took a look at the dust shield and noticed that it was getting scraped to hell. So, all I did was remove the dust shield, and voila, no more noise. However, I think that was only a temporary fix that is hiding a bigger problem. As I posted last week, my left rear tire is actually angled in toward the car when compared to the other tires and I have a feeling this was a contributing factor to the rubbing I had been experiencing earlier. I too am wondering if the problem behind this is the wheel bearing. Let me know what you find out.

 

Update, but not a real resolution. my mechanic friend took apart the whole assembly,cleaned everything, and grinded off all the rust off the rotors. Sprayed and wiped everything clean, and greased up the caliper pin, and re-installed. He says the scraping noise is caused by parts of the brake pad rubbing over the rusty parts of the rotors. (The innermost, and outermost rings of the rotor,where its really thick gritty rust.) After grinding the rust away, sound is still there,on both rear wheels. He tells me its not damaging anything,just annoying.... and that since these are the original parts (complete brake system on both rear wheels) and im at 52k, they are finally becoming weathered.
So, I still have the noise, but my braking isnt affected in any way, so im gonna deal with the noise i guess. Rotors werent warped,pads had lots of life left,so i dont want to buy new pairs of both, but I'm still concerned. They shouldnt be making loud scraping noises period. His position is that once the pads work themselves into a groove in the rotors, (since they are now resurfaced and flat) the noises will stop. My wheel bearing research will continue though. Good luck