How to tell if your wheel bearings need replacing???

[petle91]

Hi All,

On the way home tonight initially during throttle lift i started to hear knocking noise which was in time with the wheel rotation. During the journey it got worse and then started to vibrate through the car and not just the steering ( I can tell that it was coming from the passenger side front wheel). It also became noticeable on slow menouvering. If I turned left, even only slightly it disappeared but then it came back when going straight and worse when turning right and putting load on the passenger side.

Any ideas what it could be? Could it be the bearing? Or the CV joint?

The car has practically done 100,000 miles. What would be the rough costs for bearings / CV joints and should I be driving cautiously?

Thanks

Peter.

 

[R@B]

How you doing mate. Sounds more like c.v joint than a bearing especially if it gets louder on one steering lock and quieter on the other.Dont know about where you live but in glasgow there are a couple of garages that specialise in cv joints and drive shafts. It will probably cost around 50 quid. Hope this has been helpful. Rab

 

[james walker]

itll cost more than 50 quid to change a cv joint... bugger of job.

to test wheel bearing, jack car up hands at 12 and 6 oclock abd see if theres any play in the bearing by shaking the wheel, if it moves theres play meaning the bearing is shot..

50 quid is what a cv joint will cost and id say at least 1-1.5 hrs labour they will c harge, or just diy it like i did....

 

[R@B]

Sorry, forgot that was for reconditioned ones that i got for my last car. My bad

 

[mjt]

yeah, it'll be the outer cv joint. i had the same problem, the wheel vibrations were horrific!
the boot split, emptied the grease and then the joint slowly crumbled over a hundred miles or so..
cost me £400 to fix, but i had to pay norwegian parts and labour rates

the dealer will charge you for 2 hours, and cv boot kit and outer joint should cost less than £150

 

[Muttley]

Nowadays the shake test just doesn't work on front wheels. FWD forces mean that the wheel bearings are massive and even if worn there is negligable play, certainly not enough to detect by grabbing the wheel and shaking. I'm sure of this, because it happened to me on my old Ibiza, and even when the noise and vibration was quite appalling, there was no detectable shake - yet replacing the wheel bearing cured the problem.

Shaking the wheel will also *not* detect a shot CV joint. Rotate the wheel forward and back and listen for clonks - that will show up a worn CV joint.

The method I was shown for wheel bearings was: find a safe location, drive at moderate speed and swerve strongly from side to side. The noise will disappear on one lock and get louder on the other. The side that gets loaded when the noise is loudest is the one where the bearing is going (e.g. loudest on left turns, offside bearing is shot)

 

[petle91]

thanks everyone, very helpful, will let you know what it was, should be getting it looked at today hopefully.

 

[Andrewcupra TDI]

Nowadays the shake test just doesn't work on front wheels. FWD forces mean that the wheel bearings are massive and even if worn there is negligable play, certainly not enough to detect by grabbing the wheel and shaking. I'm sure of this, because it happened to me on my old Ibiza, and even when the noise and vibration was quite appalling, there was no detectable shake - yet replacing the wheel bearing cured the problem.

quite true , i have had a couple of garages to look at my wheels as i can hear a huming noise, cant quite make out if its drivers or passengers rear , but the garages failed to pick up , and im almost certain its on its way out , will check by swerving

how much are bearings roughly then ??

cheers

 

[LEE69]

The method I was shown for wheel bearings was: find a safe location, drive at moderate speed and swerve strongly from side to side. The noise will disappear on one lock and get louder on the other. The side that gets loaded when the noise is loudest is the one where the bearing is going (e.g. loudest on left turns, offside bearing is shot)

Saved me writing all that, that's how i test

 

[wisejason]

quite true , i have had a couple of garages to look at my wheels as i can hear a huming noise, cant quite make out if its drivers or passengers rear , but the garages failed to pick up , and im almost certain its on its way out , will check by swerving

how much are bearings roughly then ??

cheers

it the huming/drone is coming from the rear I would ask how long the tyres have been on the car. Had the same issue a few years back and it turned out the the sidewalls where failing and this was the source of the noise.

 

[ChrisGTL]

Recently had a rear wheel bearing replaced at AwesomeGTI. Cost me just short of £100 inc labour.

HTH.

 

[Husbandofstinky]

As a general rule of thumb CV's knock whereas bearings tend to drone/grind.

Last bearings I had done was in the middle of France 18 months ago on my old Blade. Was shi**ing myself getting to the next town before the rear wheel decided it might want to lock.