Wheel bearing or tire noise

I've got a 2011 TRD OR that I bought with just under 200k miles. It's in great shape and I've been driving it for a little over a year.

I got the truck with some cheap no-name tires (Nexen Roadial HTX?) and they are really noisy. At least I'm 99% sure it's the tires. I don't want to spend money on new tires if I've got a wheel bearing problem.

I've replaced pads & rotors. When I had the truck up in the air, the wheel has zero wobble or play. Tires are not wearing uneven.

Anything else I can do to confirm tire noise vs bearing?

 

I have a 2007 just hit 110k last week. I replaced both front wheel bearings about 2 months ago now. If you can take the front wheels off, grab ahold of the lugs and see if you have any movement. If so it’s likely a wheel bearing.

I tried uploading a video of what mine was doing but won’t let me.



Edit, also my passenger side wouldn’t wobble but was pretty hard to turn by hand. After talking with a few people they said it was likely bad or about to go bad. They said since the driver side was getting done along with front brake pads/rotors to go ahead and replace.

 

You can swerve back and forth to see if your noise goes away or changes tone. If it does that usually indicates wheel bearings.

 

Lift the front of the truck off the ground and spin the wheel as fast as you can while holding the knuckle.

A bad bearing will feel rough through the knuckle. A good bearing will be whisper quiet and smooth. Its not just the sound you're looking for, its more of a feel

 

Is the noise the same with it in 2wd vs 4wd?

 

X2 although I usually grab the spring. I’d think it would resonate more in then spring then the solid knuckle.

 

The bearing is basically in the knuckle though.. there is some dampening between the knuckle and the spring because of the lower shock bushing..

That being said, in my experience, if you have a bad bearing you'll feel it anyway if you grab something close enough

 

Mine had no play but were noise.