Was driving last night on brand new pavement in my community and it was absolute quiet around and the car was making this noise, that could only be heard when coasting in these quiet conditions: aah... aah... aah... about twice a second at ~20 mph. If I start rocking the car left and right, it makes the same sound consistent with the steering. Wheel bearings or is everything normal?

 

holy moly, did you have a good time


I had a wheel bearing go bad on my previous max, and it made a metallic grinding noise that was audible at high way speed, and it will make the noise while going straight or turned, basically in all driving condition. So, I would advice you to search around on methods to check wheel bearing (something along the line of jacking up the car, then grab the wheel at the 12 and 6 o'clock position rock it, if there is any play, then it is bad) don't quote me on that though, as it is coming from the top of my head.

 

any car that's 10+ years...the wheel bearings are going to go eventually.

 

You know, I think my car has a bad front bearing as well. Sounds like a faint grinding noise, almost as if the pads are contacting the rotors type of sound. I turn left or right or steer left/right and it still maintains that noise. I can take the car out of gear while driving down the road and hear it, so I know its nothing on the engine. almost stopping at the traffic light, it gets faint, so my $ is on the bearings.

How much do the bearings cost, does anyone know?

 

Just saw citroen bearings opened: the so called grease, 13yr old, was almost as hard as the bearing plastic separator ring (for the bearing *****). Awesome how long they actually keep working...

When caliper rails (grn), piston sticks, bearings soon fried: lubricate yearly...

 

i had the same noise and ended up with a seized caliper a week later. keep an eye on that

 

286,700 miles on my originals....still quiet....

 

I also had a caliper pin seize up on me last week when doing my breaks with a friend. Took us an hour just to get it out and yes.....it was pretty much rusted stuck

 

drive around in nyc and philly enough and you starting breaking things you didnt even know could break

 

My bad, I forgot to mention I just installed new calipers a week ago on the front and on the back I have 3 YO rebuilt calipers.

 

Wow, this same exact thing is happening with me. I have been told it needs new wheel bearings, and also the driver's side front caliper will seize every now and then. Anyone have any idea on difficulty doing wheel bearings myself? Every shop I've looked into wants in the neighborhood of $600 with 5.5 hours of labor per side, and looking at the FSM, there is no way it will take 5.5 hours of labor per side, to replace a $40 part. Are there any write ups of this procedure?

 

My car ran great until I moved to tacoma/seattle. The roads are horrible out here. When I left from albuquerque I had ZERO rattles (fixed each and every rattle) even with 143db of bass. I also have a couple suspension "noises" now.

 

i would think the FSM has the procedure in it.

the main thing on doing something like this is having lots of tools, tools that can be used as drifts to press out and press in the bearings. you can use your sockets, but pounding on them with a hammer kinda messes them up. having a BIG heavy duty bench vise helps as this eliminates the pounding and is much preferred for installation.

 

so it goes...
- Take apart uself, and outsource: visit a shop with the assy, new bearings and they'll press ol bearing out, new in with 10$, 5min.
- Bearings may be cut to pieces with small electric drill grinding disc. Takes time, but so does finding, walkin to a shop... Use the old outer rings to hammer new bearing - via hittin only the outer ring - into the assy.
- buy the tools u need. ALWAYS cheaper than shop. And afterwards, tools are yours.

 

Is there a way to remove the wheel bearing while the hub is still on the car? I am guessing if you can somehow remove the axle from the hub, and then use a hammer and another tool to push out the old?

 

Oh, you do not have to keep the hub on the car - only complicates the things. It is a matter of two 19 mm bolts to remove the hum from the strut and then you remove the tie rod BJ and lower BJ with my know-how: use pensil torch to heat up the knuckles till they are warm and then whack on the BJ bolt thru its nut. One whack usually is enough - I never used the forks or pullers on them.

 

Why not just take the 3 bolts off from the ball joint? instead of the hassle of the main bolt going into the hub.

 

that works too.

on many cars, you can't do that.. 3 gens and camrys are the only cars I've seen that have the ball joint bolted to the control arm.

either way, just remove the spindle from the car and take it to a work bench. much easier than trying to do it on the car.

 

Any special tools required once the spindle is off the car? Taking off that 36mm axle nut is a pita from what I have heard ~175 lb/lbs.

Hammer?
thick wood dowel?

 

Read the damn FSM!

 

impact wrench.

if you don't have one, then just remove the wheel and the cotter pin, put the wheel back on, lower the jack, and use the friction from the wheel to loosen the axle nut.