Advice on identifying faulty wheel bearing

[MikeS100]

Thanks for all the replies guys, that's given me lots to try. I never thought about the tyres so will definitely have a look at them. All 4 were new about 8000 miles ago and they're well reviewed mid range tyres, but I'll certainly have a look. To be honest, they could probably do with being swapped front to back anyway so I might try that and see if it makes any difference. I can't remember if they are directional or not, but if not I'll swap them left to right as well.

I'll also have a feel of the springs s that sounds like a nice easy way to feel for roughness in the bearing, and then if that still doesn't show anything then I guess I'll be stripping everything off to get to the hub!

Thanks again all

[capt jack]

From my experience, wheel bearing noise kicks in at circa 40 mph, might change with road speed, then goes off again if you go fast enough, whereas tyre noise is there at all speeds, and will possibly change a bit according to the road surface.

But the noises are very very similar - when I first got my Saab the rear tyres were cheep'n'cheerful Shanghai Ditchseekers - and the noise was awesome!

Cheers

Jack

[MikeS100]

I probably should have said that the noise starts at about 40, that's one of the reasons why I assumed it was a wheel bearing. Doesn't go when you speed up though, it stays constant.

Whilst I love these cars, it's so frustrating that the bearings are so hard to diagnose and you have to change the whole hub! If you could just change the bearing I would just change them all and find it by a process of elimination!

[MikeS100]

I was hoping to get a break in the weather at some point today but it's been wet and miserable constantly So I'll have to leave it until the weekend to have a look but I will post back with any results.

[dodgyvinyl]

If this helps....

Every failed front wheel bearing I've seen has ben worse under load (ie when turning away from it).

The cheap aftermarket wheelbearings are poor compared to original ones. I replaced 2 in my T5 before fitting a used original.

At early fail stages, they often have a high pitched whine which starts suddely at 30-40 mph, lower when it gets warm.

[MikeS100]

Got the car jacked up today, the rear passenger side wheel has a lot of resistance when you try to spin it and there does seem to be a bit of roughness through the spring. I also remembered that when I had issues with my locking wheel bolts earlier in the year it was this wheel that I had to hammer a socket onto the broken bolt, so that probably put a lot of strain on the bearing. The noise definitely goes when you turn right and gets worse when you turn left though which doesn't make sense, but maybe as it's a rear wheel could that make a difference?

I also noticed that the brake on that side clearly isn't working as you can see from the attached photo. Normally I would just put this down to the caliper stuck off but is there anyway this could be linked to a faulty bearing? I'm sure it's not connected and it's probably just coincidence that the bearing and caliper are both faulty at the same time, but thought I would ask the question in case there is anything I'm missing.

Looks like I'm going to have an expensive week for car parts!

[Luxobarge]

A faulty wheel bearing won't normally give the wheel a lot of resistance to turning, but a seized caliper will. I'd recommend you sort out the seized caliper (you'll need a recon exchange caliper and a new disk - ideally both sides) and then see if you still have the problem. My money's on this fixing it, and there being nothing really wrong with the wheel bearing.

I'd do it PDQ though, I'd not be driving it with the brakes like that.

[MikeS100]

But the caliper seems to be seized in the off position as it's not clearing the rust on the disc... I could understand it causing the noise I am hearing and causing the resistance in the wheel turning if it was stuck on, but I wouldn't expect it to cause those symptoms if it's off. Or do you think it could be catching on the inside of the disc?

[Chris_Rogers]

Only one way to find out!

[Luxobarge]

Movement in even a good bearing could be enough to tilt the disc on cornering enough so that the pad contacts the rust and gives a grating/rumbling noise. Anyway, I'm not saying it definately isn't the wheel bearing, just that my theory is a possibility and so I'd do that first, and only change the bearing if it doesn't work. After all, the brake has got to be sorted anyway, whether it's causing the noise or not, eh?

As Chris says, only one way to find out - do it!