Wheel bearing seems OK but noisy

[bishop finger]

Hi my shed's developed a rotational noise like a bad wheel bearing which seems to present at the nearside front. i changed this bearing around two years ago so i doubted this was making the noise but i've eliminated a stuck brake caliper

Aside from the noise there are no other signs of this bearing being bad, no free-play in the wheel when rocked back and forth by hand. Rotating the hub by hand with the wheel on or off suggests no problems either. It passed a recent MOT with no bearing advisories

Is it likely the wheel bearing can be knackered with no physical signs other than noise? There is an intermediate bearing on the offside driveshaft and i'm wondering if it's this instead

[Belle427]

Depends on the quality of the bearing you fitted.

[dontlookdown]

It is possible the noise is coming from somewhere else.

I once did the same thing on a MK2 Golf GTi. Replaced what sounded like a bad nsf wheel bearing. Noise still there. Turned out to be an output shaft bearing in the gearbox - runs at wheel speed so v similar noise;)

Edited by dontlookdown on Wednesday 13th November 07:36

[Desiderata]

What's the car?
I've been chasing "bearing" noises on the rear of my wife's Octavia for ages only to eventually find out that it's tyre noise. Common fault on VAG estates running cross climate tyres.

[cuprabob]

Desiderata said:

What's the car?
I've been chasing "bearing" noises on the rear of my wife's Octavia for ages only to eventually find out that it's tyre noise. Common fault on VAG estates running cross climate tyres.

It's a common issue on VAG cars, not just estates and not just running cross climate tyres.

[bishop finger]

dontlookdown said:

It is possible the noise is coming from somewhere else.

I once did the same thing on a MK2 Golf GTi. Replaced what sounded like a bad nsf wheel bearing. Noise still there. Turned out to be an output shaft bearing in the gearbox - runs at wheel speed so v similar noise;)

Edited by dontlookdown on Wednesday 13th November 07:36

How did you eventually diagnose the output shaft?

Car is not VAG

[donkmeister]

Can corrosion on the hub-disc-wheel interface cause this? I've seen some pretty scabby surfaces on these three which would put the wheel axis slightly off true. No idea if enough to cause noise though.

If you do have intense scabbiness, it's pretty cheap and easy to solve with a roloc disc hub and stud tool.

[ARHarh]

I had a noisy bearing on my Lexus for 4 months. Never had any movement and could not hears noise when spinning the wheel by hand. In desperation I put the spare wheel on and the noise went. So swap the tyres around and see if the noise moves.

[Peanut Gallery]

As above, are you sure it is that wheel bearing - I was certain I had a bad rear nearside bearing, took to the garage, explained that. He had the car up on the ramps and found front nearside bearing was gone, the noise was not coming from there at all.

[98elise]

bishop finger said:

Hi my shed's developed a rotational noise like a bad wheel bearing which seems to present at the nearside front. i changed this bearing around two years ago so i doubted this was making the noise but i've eliminated a stuck brake caliper

Aside from the noise there are no other signs of this bearing being bad, no free-play in the wheel when rocked back and forth by hand. Rotating the hub by hand with the wheel on or off suggests no problems either. It passed a recent MOT with no bearing advisories

Is it likely the wheel bearing can be knackered with no physical signs other than noise? There is an intermediate bearing on the offside driveshaft and i'm wondering if it's this instead

Quite possible.

My daughters Aygo sounded like it had a bearing gone just before the MOT was due. I stuck it in for it's MOT and asked them to replace the bearing if it needed it. it came back with a fresh MOT and they said the noise was probably just the tyres.

I tried the spare, and swapping the tyres left to right, but the noise stayed put, and was getting worse. When I had the car in the air it didn't feel like the bearings were gone (no movement). I could just about feel a click when rotating one of the wheels though.

I stuck it back into the garage to properly investigate, and they came back with 2 wheel bearings needing replacement.

Edited by 98elise on Wednesday 13th November 15:17

[LuS1fer]

I had a Fiesta ST. Bearing noise seemed to come from the front but was actually coming from the back.

Sounded like a tube train.

[Smint]

A noisy bearing you convince yourself is one side, can sometimes prove to be the inner race on the opposite wheel.
Decades ago mate and i changed what seemed an obvious front wheel bearing failing on one side on his Peug 305, only to find out it was actually the inner race the other side.

Tyres, the winter set i've just made redundant made a noise you would swear blind was a wheel bearing, soon as they came off every spring the noise vanished.

[bishop finger]

Thanks for the suggestions

I confirmed it's a knackered NSF wheel bearing today not happy because i replaced this a little over two years ago, albeit with a non OEM part. anyway I will need to do it again. need my slide hammer cheers

[MattyD803]

Assuming this is a FWD or 4WD vehicle, is there a chance that you inadvertently lowered the weight of the vehicle onto the wheel/hub prior to refitting the driveshaft for any reason?

Odd thing to suggest I know, but I had very similar failure on my 4WD Nissan, which destroyed an OEM front wheel bearing within 6 months / 1500 miles of being replaced. I believe this was likely due to the fact that during replacement of the front wheel bearing, I noticed my inner CV boot was split. I didn't have the parts available to repair it, so whilst I awaited delivery (2 or 3 days), I refitted the roadwheel and lowered the vehicle back to the ground without the driveshaft fitted (rather than leave it on axle stands).

6 months or so later, I noticed a grumble/groan from the same bearing, which I believe now "may" have been a result of me leaving the weight of the vehicle pressing directly onto the bearing without any internal support. I assumed the flange/bearing gave all the strength required, but understand this may very well not be the case in reality.

[bishop finger]

i can't recall that but i do recall a slightly maltorqued drive shaft hub nut on the near side. perhaps that has prematurely aged it. tbh i'm just grateful it's nothing more serious