How To Tell If Wheel Bearings Are Going Out...

beav626 · April 19, 2009

last couple of days I've been hearing a slight scraping sound coming from my front driver wheel. (01 Sierra 2wd with 22" Wheels)

my brakes seem to be OK-I jacked up the front and spun the wheel by hand and could not hear anything. It is only every once in a while.

What could this be? Is it the bearing?

Both front wheels spin freely with no binds in the at all.

Zembonez · April 19, 2009

Typically a wheel hub/bearing will have slack in ti when you jack it up. Grab the top and bottom of the wheel and see if there is any excessive play in the bearing. Hard to know exactly what might be the noise from your short description.

hockeypro1411 · April 19, 2009

Weird. I just noticed this as I pulled up tonight. But I had the truck jacked up for a wheel rotation 2 days ago and everything was in good shape as far as bearings.

beav626 · April 19, 2009

Typically a wheel hub/bearing will have slack in ti when you jack it up. Grab the top and bottom of the wheel and see if there is any excessive play in the bearing. Hard to know exactly what might be the noise from your short description.

I did not notice ant slack in the wheel when I jacked it up.

The sound is like a rotor scraping on a steel pad. Not constant but for a minute as I am reaching a destination. When I turn hard left or right it goes away.

I checked both front breaks and they look good.

Zembonez · April 19, 2009

Typically a wheel hub/bearing will have slack in ti when you jack it up. Grab the top and bottom of the wheel and see if there is any excessive play in the bearing. Hard to know exactly what might be the noise from your short description.

I did not notice ant slack in the wheel when I jacked it up.

The sound is like a rotor scraping on a steel pad. Not constant but for a minute as I am reaching a destination. When I turn hard left or right it goes away.

I checked both front breaks and they look good.

That doesn't sound like what I have heard when a bearing goes... I guess anything is possible.

beav626 · April 20, 2009

Bump for the Monday crowd

JDH_VA · April 20, 2009

When I turn hard left or right it goes away.

I suggest driving in a zig-zag pattern.

Problem solved. NEXT!

seadoons · April 20, 2009

The fact that you say the noise goes away while turning makes me believe it is a wheel bearing. You jacked up the truck and grabbed each tire and they don't move around??

burnthefurniture · April 20, 2009

The worn out wheel bearing that I just replaced on mine had little noticeable play, I almost passed it off as just turning the rack and pinion by trying to move the tire, but there was a high pitch sporadic squeaking noise that got worse and worse. At first I thought it was brake pads too...

beav626 · April 20, 2009

You jacked up the truck and grabbed each tire and they don't move around??

They move in a circular pattern

I will jack it up later this week and try again and see if I notice anything.

montecarloman90 · April 20, 2009

most of the time if your wheel bearing is going bad you will hear a howling sound and sometimes a vibration. To tell which ones is bad is go around a right corner and then a left corner. if your turn right and it stops then its your left bearing and if your turn left and it stops then its your right. The reason is you are taking pressure off that bearing making it stop.

Grebbler · April 21, 2009

If you get a neato panoramic effect then ya need BOTH of them replaced

beav626 · April 21, 2009

it is not constant- so does that change things?

Frost · April 21, 2009

it is not constant- so does that change things?

When mine was going out, I thought it was tire noise at first. I needed new tires anyway, so I bought a set of Bridgestone H/L Alenzas and it seemed worse. Figured out it was the bearing, the volume kinda sneaks up on ya.

Go to a large parking lot and get going about 25-30 (or until you hear the noise). While moving, cut sharp left and right. If the noise goes away when you turn one way and not the other, the wheel bearing on the side opposite from the direction you're turning is bad. You can also jack the truck up like someone said earlier, and spin the wheels by hand. My bad bearing sounded just like a light scraping, the other side made no noise.

GM will charge you about $400 for ONE hub assembly....which is ridiculous. I found a pair of hub assemblies (both sides) on AMautoparts.com for under $200 shipped. Might as well change both of them out, I think there was actually a class action lawsuit brought against GM for bad wheel bearings.

Easy install man, took about an hour a side.

beav626 · April 21, 2009

I was driving to work today and noticed a few things... My commute is about 10 miles maybe 20 minutes. The ride is great until I get about 1 mile from my office. As I approach a stoplight (lower than 20mph) I hear the light scraping... until I stop. when I accelerate I hear the scraping until about 10 mph from the drivers front wheel.

I hear it once again at a different stop light.

Then as I pull into my office and park-she was quiet again.