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View Full Version : Lets play "Diagnose This"!!!


LEWETHETIGER73
03-13-2013, 08:53 PM
So the car 06 grand prix gt, started making a noise that sounds like road noise about 5k miles after we got some new tires. It does not change if we turn left or right. But it does get louder or quieter with speed. Ideas? Thanks
Prince Valiant
03-13-2013, 10:37 PM
best guess is it's loud tires.
bikedad
03-13-2013, 10:42 PM
Wheel bearings?
awsomeears
03-13-2013, 10:44 PM
But it does get louder or quieter with speed. Ideas? Thanks


Crabby Girl Friend/Wife ?
73MACH
03-13-2013, 11:27 PM
music not loud enough....
LEWETHETIGER73
03-14-2013, 06:15 AM
Could be all of the above :) I thought wheel bearings would change sound if turned 1 way or the other.
73MACH
03-14-2013, 06:27 PM
Not in the experiences I've had. Any time the wheel was turning, the bearing is turning......or grinding.
Prince Valiant
03-14-2013, 06:47 PM
Not in the experiences I've had. Any time the wheel was turning, the bearing is turning......or grinding.
I would say generally it sound changes or goes away, and generally it's to the side that is bad. Out of probably 5 vehicles I've dealt w/ only 1 wheel bearing didn't change sound turning to the side that the bearing was bad on.
Lash
03-14-2013, 07:32 PM
Not in the experiences I've had. Any time the wheel was turning, the bearing is turning......or grinding.

Same here.
lilws6
03-14-2013, 08:08 PM
sound like front or back?
LEWETHETIGER73
03-14-2013, 09:14 PM
from the front
Car Guy
03-14-2013, 11:29 PM
Rotate the tires.
Prince Valiant
03-15-2013, 12:03 AM
Well, just as one can as a diagnostic test, generally wiggle/shift the wheel w/o movement from bushings/ball joints/tie-rods w/ a bad bearing, when one turns, the wheel shifts and the pressure on the bearing changes. This doesn't result in a universal tell-tale that if it quiets or changes then it's a wheel bearing, it is a very good sign.

For my honda insight, brother's chrysler sebring, buddies mazda protoge', yep, the bearing went quiet when turning to the side that's bad. For my buddy's Ram and sis-n law's rav-4, it didn't (so I misremembered...it's 3 to 2 in my personal experience). The fact that the OP's doesn't get quiet when he turns doesn't rule out wheel bearing at all....he should jack up the car and check it.

But here's a video that illustrates the phenomenon of turning w/ wheel bearing noise going away....

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lilws6
03-15-2013, 07:22 AM
Rotate the tires and re drive if you still hear it jack up the front and support it on stands. And drive it in the air. See if you still hear it. I'd it pretty loud?
bikedad
03-15-2013, 11:35 AM
My 2006 Exploder is notorious for bad wheel bearings.
I had to replaced the front ones 2 years ago.
Going straight down the road you could hear a hum. (over a period of 4 months it got louder and louder) The driver side was worse than the passenger.
When I would make a turn it would get quieter. The volume of the hum would increase with speed. There was no grinding or vibration just the hum. There was no play or looseness in the wheel. Just crappy bearing races.
I've replaced them with Timken units and they're nice and quiet. The OEM were Chinese manufactured.