Front wheel bearings???

mikeyk101 · November 6, 2023

On my 2016 4x4, I have noticed something over the last couple months and not sure if it's an issue or not. I do have Fallen Wildpeak AT3W tires and not sure if they are involved. Tread wear seems to be fine and uniformed.

But any time I turn, even at slightest turn, I hear a change in tone. Not quite a growl but definitely a different sound that isn't there when going perfectly straight. It is not affected by speed and I notice it when driving slow or at highway speeds. And it doesn't matter if I am turning left or right. I don't notice any kind of vibration, shaking, clicking, etc... when this happens, just the sound. Tires were installed in Feb 2021 at 52,500 miles and I'm just shy of 90,000 miles now. They have a 6 year, 55,000 warranty but at almost 3 years old and almost 38000 miles now, I will probably be blowing past that warranty. They still have adequate tread depth.

So is this something I need to be concerned about? My thoughts are possibly the front wheel bearings but it doesn't seem like a serious issue. I'm just wondering if it might be my OCD kicking in again though. I need to get the oil changed soon anyway and can bring it up to the dealer when that's done. Since it really doesn't cost that much more to have dealer do the oil change than doing it myself, I still take it there. Then they can also do an inspection and this helps with tracking maintenance history for my GM Protection Plan. If it does end up being the bearings, I'm pretty sure they would be covered under the Plan so I would just let them do it.

asilverblazer · November 6, 2023

Try a rotate and balance first, I had what I swore was a wheel bearing going bad... a rotate and balance fixed it.

diyer2 · November 6, 2023

Do a search on how to check front wheel bearings. Simple task.

mikeyk101 · November 7, 2023

8 hours ago, diyer2 said:

Do a search on how to check front wheel bearings. Simple task.

True. But since I'm ready for my oil change, I think I will let the techs see what they think first. I was just trying to see if the symptoms I'm having were something to be concerned about before going in. Fingers crossed that it's just the AT tires rolling down the road and just getting a bit noisier with age and nothing to worry about. But if it needs bearings, they should be able to tell me and I will just let my GMPP handle it.

8 hours ago, asilverblazer said:

Try a rotate and balance first, I had what I swore was a wheel bearing going bad... a rotate and balance fixed it.

I have had that done before at least twice on these tires when vibrations would pop up. Each time the vibrations went away. Luckily I bought them at Discount Tire and get free lifetime balancing and rotations. One thing I really like about them is they don't do just a standard balancing but do a road force balance which I think is more effective.

mikeyk101 · December 5, 2023

I got oil change done a week and a half ago but it was a late afternoon appt on Black Friday. They said the techs were gone for the day and could only get the oil change and to bring it back. I dropped it off early this morning and am patiently waiting to see what they discover.

One thing I have noticed since discovering noise was that my mpg's seem to have gone down. I do know that this is the time when the winter blend for gas is out which affects this. Just prior to the oil change, I pulled my Range AFM delete before bringing in for oil change and have left it off since. I noticed that in places where motor should have gone into V4 such as steady speed on flat sections, it would still stay in V8. I could finesse it into V4 by easing up on throttle but any pressure on throttle and it would jump back into V8. Going downhill and it would go into V4 easily on its own but when road surface flattened out or even went slightly uphill, back to V8. This seems like the engine is under load and reverts to the V8 to maintain. This would seem to explain the mpg drop I am experiencing. And doing some research, it does seem like bad wheel bearings could also potentially cause this to happen.

I realistically don't expect 25mpg average but most of my recent trips have been highway miles between 60-70mph. Before while using the Range AFM and cruise would be around 18-19mpg. Now, I'm lucky to break 16mpg. I have used the fuel economy screen on the DIC set to last 50 miles to monitor. I know it's not super accurate but does give me something to monitor how it's performing.

Now just waiting for the call...

mikeyk101 · December 6, 2023

I got a call earlier this afternoon and it confirmed what I thought, bad wheel bearing. Unfortunately I forgot to ask which side. I was told that they were trying to get authorization for my GMPP plan but had 2 calls already where my advisor had been put on hold for 25 minutes each and 3rd call, was told the system had crashed. The advisor was hoping to make some headway before the end of the day. He said if it's not covered, it would be around $900 for parts and labor. The dealer could not start the repair until GMPP gave authorization or I agreed to pay for the repair myself. I said let's wait and see. I called back around 5p.m. and this time was told that GMPP authorized the repair and it will be ready by early tomorrow afternoon. So far, my GMPP plan has more than paid for itself before this and I'm glad I chose the one that has a $0 deductible.

My biggest concern though is that with GMPP, they will only repair what is needed and not anything preventative but I guess I can understand that. But usually if one side bearing goes bad, it is a good idea to do the other side at same time. However, I'm not going to pay $900 to have the other side done "just in case". I will probably just buy the hub for the other side and do it myself sometime in near future. Much cheaper that way. I did the rear hubs on my trike before and it was stupid simple. I can't imagine it being much more difficult with my Silverado.