How do I trace a bad wheel bearing noise

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jorton

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Jul 4, 2003
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San Antonio, TX
Trying to get this fixed tomorrow.
I think I first noticed the noise after I rotated the tires on the [censored] Focus about 500 miles ago. It is loudest when coasting down and the growling sound slows with the cars speed, then stops when the car comes to a stop.

I just checked the back wheels a little while ago and I think they're ok. But the car does have major rear suspension problems. Control arms are bad.

Checking the fronts in the morning. What is the right way to do that? Could that kind of noise be something other than wheel bearings. I don't think it's a tire problem. 2 tires are new and I have rotated them 2 times this year. This car does not have abs.
 
It sounds like a front bearing.Sometimes,depending on how bad it is,you can feel it through the tire when it is turning freely,no weight on the wheel.

It can feel 'rough' or 'gritty' when you turn the wheel.
 
First, be sure each tire is round, with no wavy tread and not out of round. Feel the surface for any bumps to rule out a belt separation. It's easiest to do this on a lift, although you can jack up each corner and spin the tire.

If you do have major suspension problems, it'll show up on your tires. Bad control arms can be dangerous.

Go into a good size parking lot with plenty of room to manuever. Roll down your window. Speed up to around 20-25mph in a straight line, then turn sharply in one direction, without braking. Repeat for the other direction. Note if one side is louder than the other.

If you hear grinding/howling when you make a sharp right turn, it's probably the left front wheel bearing. Vice versa for the other side.
 
Put the car in neutral and set the parking brake and chock the back wheels.

Jack up each side of the car,one at a time.You can use jack stands if you have them.Turn the wheels in both directions and notice for any kind of roughness or gritty feelings radiating through the wheel/tire as you turn the wheel.A wheel bearing can many times give you a roughness through the wheel as you turn it.Also notice if it takes a lot of strength to turn the wheel,this too can be a sign of a bad bearing.

A good bearing should turn freely without any gritty,rough or grinding feelings while turning the wheel.

You can also make for sure which side is bad by doing this.
 
It will get louder or quieter if you turn left and right. *Usually* the outside wheel in a turn is shot, but not always.

I think you have a sawtooth wear issue on your tire. Just rotating them should not make a good bearing bad overnight. If your rear suspension has issues your alignment could too and this will wreck your tires.
 
How I figured it on the wife's Escape. Make a couple turns to the left and right (like an off ramp). If the noise goes away when turning one direction you know it's a bearing. Hers was the passenger side and on right turns it would get louder as more pressure from the car was on that bearing. Turn left and it would all but go away as there was little pressure on the bearing.

Ended up taking it in as I don't have the tools to do it (need a press to get it in and out). The dealer confirmed it was the passenger bearing and replaced it and all is quiet now. 100k of crummy PA roads did it in.
 
Thanks for the help!

The howling sound doesn't change when I turn the car. It's not a steady howling. It's frequency slows with the speed of the car as I'm coasting down to a stop. Applying brakes does not change the sound.

I will try to feel for uneven tire wear but I am not good at this. I think I feel something, then I can't feel it. I continue rubbing the tread and what I thought I had found completely disappears. Two of the tires have too aggressive of a tread pattern for me to check because my hands just bounce over the lugs.

Now I'm going to go raise the front and try to check for roughness or gritty feelings radiating through the wheel/tire as I rotate the wheels. The backs sound and feel good.
 
Jorton,
You say that you noticed the noise when you first rotated the tires. And that you have knowingly, issues in the rear suspension. The reason that I'm curious about the noise is...What if you rotate the tires back to where they were before, will the noise go away?

Your '05 Focus is similar to my daughters '06 Mazda3(not everything but, alot), OK?
When she first bought the car, I thought there was front wheel bearing noise and the selling dealer had rotated the tires prior to sale.

She drove for a year like this and I had checked everything I could to see if the noise was front wheel bearings or tires. Bad front wheel bearings are hard to find, to say the least
frown.gif


Of the 4 tires on the car(Dunlop Signature), 2 were OK with 6/32nds, 1 was waring faster than the others and 1 had a sidewall damage. The 2 tires with 6/32nd tires were the loudest even after rotating. So, I bought 4 brand new tires. Problem solved. It was the tires along!

I could have sworn that the noise was wheel bearings, it was that loud and I have had expeirence with bad wheel bearings in the past on other cars.

These Focus/Mazda3 are not quiet cars although their drivetrains are very quiet/smooth and the cars are built nicely. There just is NO insulation in the dash/firewall and fenders to keep out the road noise and that noise comes right through into your ears.

The rear suspension problems with your Focus may have caused the tires to ware in a way that is causing this tire noise. And that noise is coming through into the car.

This is just my .02 cents!
 
Originally Posted By: jorton
Thanks for the help!

The howling sound doesn't change when I turn the car. It's not a steady howling. It's frequency slows with the speed of the car as I'm coasting down to a stop. Applying brakes does not change the sound.

I will try to feel for uneven tire wear but I am not good at this. I think I feel something, then I can't feel it. I continue rubbing the tread and what I thought I had found completely disappears. Two of the tires have too aggressive of a tread pattern for me to check because my hands just bounce over the lugs.

Now I'm going to go raise the front and try to check for roughness or gritty feelings radiating through the wheel/tire as I rotate the wheels. The backs sound and feel good.



Both front wheels sound the same. There is no roughness or gritty feelings radiating through the wheel/tire as I rotate the wheels. I can hear only the cv joints knocking which I think is normal. And I can hear brake linings in all 4. Going to a large parking lot to drive the car now.
 
Thank you Char Baby. I don't think I need to go drive the car now afterall. Left right turning check has already been accomplished through normal driving.

Checking Rockauto for new rear control arms.
 
Bad suspension components can load the bearing wrong.
This can make a noise with a good bearing, or cause a partially faulty bearing to make noise.
In any event, you gotta get the suspension fixed first.
 
Originally Posted By: mechtech2
Bad suspension components can load the bearing wrong.
This can make a noise with a good bearing, or cause a partially faulty bearing to make noise.
In any event, you gotta get the suspension fixed first.


Ordering parts from Rockauto tomorrow. $150
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
It will get louder or quieter if you turn left and right. *Usually* the outside wheel in a turn is shot, but not always.


That's the way it's been for me for the 3-4 front wheel bearing failures I've experienced. If the noise goes away when you turn right, it's your front left that's bad.

Rears can be tough to diagnose. I had the rear left go bad on my 2008 Hyundai and the noise went from basically nothing to a full out horrendous roar. Now I've got a front left that's bad on the same vehicle!

It's near impossible to 'fee' for it by rolling a wheel. You've got slight brake drag to deal with, plus a half shaft, differential gearing, etc. You're not going to feel anything. I know I haven't been able to. Same goes for that rear bearing on my Santa Fe. It's AWD, you can barely roll any wheel.

Joel
 
On a lot of cars you can put jack stands under the front control arms to get the wheels off the ground and at ride height level to check for bearing noise in drive. The problem is often times the bearing won't be that noisy without being loaded. You have to be careful and not jack from the control arms and place the jack stands in the recommended place under the control arm, which on a Focus is at the rear of the front control arms near the rear bushing I think. Plus you must make sure that the jack stand is secure and the car won't come down on the drive wheels of course.

I'm not really recommending it, but just saying you can put stands under the front control arms at the service manual's recommended points.

As others recommended you can usually narrow the noise source down to wheel bearings as opposed to tires and wheel by rotating tires. Then you can usually narrow down which side by seeing which side gets louder on turns. It spunds like you have tire noise issue from the rear suspension problems anyway.
 
Tomorrow I am installing new aftermarket control arms.

The control arms move with wheel up down travel. I can't see how arm end sleeve spacer can turn inside the anchor bracket after the bolt is torqued down. Am I supposed to use grease on the bolt shank?

Or am I just inventing a problem that doesn't exist?
 
If you are talking about the rubber control arm bushings, the sleeve does not rotate and the rubber bushing twists around the sleeve. There's not suppose to be rotation and you do not grease the bushing. That is why you want to loosely tighten the control arm bushing bolts and final tighten then with the car resting at ride height on the tires so the bushings won't be under tension at ride height.
 
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When you make the final tightening of the control arms, do it with the on the ground - normal rest position.Keep them loose until then.
This will 'center' the rubber, so it is not flexed all the way over when at rest.
It has to move both ways.

Urethane bushings are greased, rubber is not. Urethane can be tightened when up in the air on a rack.
 
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