Wheel noise; bad bearings or unbalanced wheel?

[televascular]

Recently, I slid in some ice going about 30mph and hit a curb laterally, just scraping it with my front right wheel before getting pushed back on the road (nothing too serious). I hit it hard enough to throw off my alignment a little bit, and it took a big chunk out of my 17" wheel.

Now when I accelerate, my front right wheel makes a noise like this: "wub wub wub wub wub wub wubwubwubwubwubwubwub" and gets faster as I travel faster. This happens when driving below 50mph but disappears at highway speeds. Is this just because my wheel is now unbalanced due to the missing chunk, or have I damaged my wheel bearing or something?

Trying to avoid paying $80 at the dealer for a simple diagnostic. Thanks ahead of time for any insight!

 

[rg200amp]

Sounds like a wheel bearing. I had that same noise on my lincoln the day I bought it. I had the dealer fix it before I signed the dotted line. It was the left bearing.

On the test drive the noise got a lot louder when I would hit a turn(turning left) going 40+ MPH.

I am not a auto tech. Just comparing your noise to mine.

Good luck!!!

 

[Kestas]

I handle the warranty for wheel bearings in our company. Every once in a while we get a bearing that was damaged from some type of impact, resulting in a noisy wheel bearing. A good impact can brinell the races. I'm not saying that is your problem for sure, just that it's not that uncommon.

 

[TTK]

The " wubwubwubwubwubwubwub " is a broken or damaged radial belt...not a wheel bearing noise.

 

[ikeepmychevytoo]

Yes, dissapperaring at higher speeds and absence of shimmy looks like a radial problem. Search "wheel tramp". Any bounce at very low specific speeds like 5 mph, 10 mph?

I don't know how much balancing a wheel goes like there (guess it is cheap) I'd have that wheel balanced on car just to see clearer if there are further problems.

 

[televascular]

Thanks for the replies!

Wheel balancing isn't too expensive, but I'm trying to spend my money as efficiently as possible.

Is it possible the radial belts have been damaged but show no visual symptoms? I see no sidewall bubbles or anything of the sort; the only part of the tire that contacted the curb was the "rim protector", which was obviously not designed for anything more vigorous than parallel parking.

I don't feel any bouncing sensation, but Google told me "wheel tramp" is caused by an out-of-round tire or severely worn shocks/struts...

Would it be reasonable to take my car for an alignment/tire balance without mentioning anything, and rely on the techs to spot any additional problems in that area?

 

[mechtech2]

It's not the bearing. It's the tire or tire/wheel combinatin.

 

[oilyriser]

the sidewall bubble can be very hard to see, and still the tire wobbles

 

[PT1]

Originally Posted By: TTK
The " wubwubwubwubwubwubwub " is a broken or damaged radial belt...not a wheel bearing noise.


I doubt that you damaged the bearings, most likely the tire. Switch your spare on there and see if it goes away. That said, you can damage the rolling elements in a bearing assembly by a curb hit causing flat spots on the balls or rollers which ultimately lead to bearing failure. But it has to be a fairly hard hit.

 

[Tosh]

As PT1 alluded to, you need to switch the wheel/tire around and see if the noise follows the tire or stays with the hub.

I'm guessing tire problem, but could also be the rim is bent. When you have it jacked up, rotate the wheel and you might see a wobble.