Replaced wheel bearing on a hunch - good results

[Ecky]

Over the past year I had thought I needed to replace one of the hubs on my car. The wear pattern from the brakes looked like that of a warped hub, and I had vibration while slowing down. My gas mileage has also been creeping down over the past few months for no reason I could discover (have been getting under 30 consistently in city driving).

A week ago I developed some "wheel noise", what sounded like a high pitch oscillating whine that changed in frequency while driving. I asked a tech at an auto shop, he test-drove it and suggested that I get my tires checked/reseated. I jacked the car up and couldn't see anything obviously wrong with the tires (but also there was no play in the wheel when I shook it) but some internet reading suggested that it could still be a bad bearing.

I took the car into tire kingdom and had them replace that wheel bearing. As I pulled out of the parking lot I discovered my hunch was right, no more whine. Also, no more vibration while braking! I'm halfway through a tank since then and it's looking like I'm going to average 33-35 city.

There was no grinding noise and no play in the tire, but the bearing was still killing my mileage.

Just thought I'd share.

[Gasoline Fumes]

Interesting. I have a slight wheel bearing whine in my Wagon.

[02ws6]

Originally Posted by Gasoline Fumes

Interesting. I have a slight wheel bearing whine in my Wagon.

Wheel bearings can be had cheap... Replacing them is the difficult part.. Lots of write ups online though. I had one go out and it sounded like I was flying in a prop airplane before I got a chance to replace it.. Stuff can drive you crazy.. lol..


If you get up to speed and weave back and forth you can hear the pitch change in the noise.. Itll usually help narrow down which side youre having an issue with..