Wheel bearing noise or tire noise?

Never had a bad rear bearing. But the front ones will throw noise/sounds from, it seems, all directions lol. That's why I don't try to guess which one is bad/ failing, since I can rarely pinpoint the 'correct' bad bearing. Even with all the tips and tricks to diagnose, I still can't diagnose correctly lol.

And like you I could've sworn it was my tires. First I had them balanced, didn't make a difference. And since i was absolutely convinced certain (Yeah right lol) it was my tires, I replaced those. Nope! It was the wheel bearings. Replaced both, and is still smooth as silk 40,000 miles later.
You won't believe how smooth your truck will be after replacing those bearings. You don't realize the bearings are as bad as they are, until you drive down the highway after having them replaced.

 

Never a more true statement

 

I just did the fronts for the same sounds . I had the noise when I bought it . I lifted it put on new tires and wheels and had the same sound afterwards. The one thing that was a dead give away was it had the sound of bad tire balance but not the feel. It was smooth with both sets of tires . Any tire that loud you would also feel some vibes too, I didn't. Problem is it still there just not as loud, maybe rears need to be replaced too.

 

Damn the dealership wanting 700.00 for each hub assembly excluding labor. That’s just crazy! So is everyone doing the Dorman option with skf bearing?

 

Hubs are not hard to do yourself as long as you have a socket for the axle nut. Save yourself the money. I think I got mine for my drives side for around $150

 

At about 10-15 miles a day I bought a less than 100 bucks each assembled for mine . Can't remember the brand but they will most likely last longer than I need to and they are not Moog so I am fine with it

 

Finally swapped out my front bearings today with new ones. Made a world of difference. These wheel bearings that were oem and had about 100k on them were nsk bearings. Which I thought was strange cause my truck is 2008 and I’m the single owner. Thought they would have been koyo.

 

I’ve had a noise/grinding that I thought was in the front end. I had recently had tired rotated and balanced (stock size tires) but noise persisted. Tires are fairly new with less than 18,000 miles.

Next, I had both front wheel bearings replaced and noise is still there but seems to be coming from the rear now.

The noise is loudest when turning left, noticeable when straight, and almost disappears when turning right. Would that indicated the rear left wheel bearing as the problem?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

Background information is helpful. How many miles? What have you checked/ruled out? When did it start? Any changes to the truck? Any parts replaced?

Have you checked the u-joints? Carrier bearing?

 

It's also possible, when one of the new bearings was being pressed in the hub, the new bearing could've been damaged.

 

Rear bearings being bad is very rare

 

66,000 miles. The noise started about a month ago. The mechanic who changed the front wheel bearings checked the u-joints and they were ok. I’m not sure about carrier bearing.

 

Replaced both my fronts at 149k and the truck is 10x quieter now. I thought it was tire noise the whole time, lol. Used Koyo bearings from the TW member who does the press service.

 

I’ve been traveling a lot and haven’t had time to work on the above problem until today. The sound seemed to be coming from the rear right and thought I might have a bad tire, so I took off tire and put on the spare and the noise is still present. Any ideas of places to narrow down based on background?

Carrier bearing? Back wheel bearings, etc?

 

New update - I had my mechanic replace the needle bearing with the ECGS bearing. Unfortunately, I still have the rotating sound described in prior posts. To summarize, both front wheel bearings replaced, u-joints checked, and new ECGS bearing. I do not think it's tire noise as it is more of a metallic sound when turning left and disappears when I turn to the right. I'm at a loss...

 

There are still two back wheels that might have a bad bearing. Jack them up and wiggle them side to side to see if there is any play. From past experience I chased a front end bearing problem....until I found out it was the rear bearing. It could also be the drive shaft carrier bearing.

 

I’m hearing and feeling this in the steering wheel at 134k miles.

 

Did anyone use these wheel bearing & hub assembly set from 1A Auto? Seems like they have really good reviews but wanted to hear from someone here.

 

Another datapoint here. I had a loud "hum" that sounded like I had knobby tires. Absolutely no play in either of the front wheels.

Replaced both front bearing assemblies with "QJZ" brand hubs and it's super quiet now. 2wd. Maybe 20 mins per side, easy!

Amazingly, I'm fairly sure these were the original bearings with 280k miles.

 

Super old thread, but looking for a definitive answer to Kingstons question.

Thanks!