I think I have wheel bearing problem but wanted to bounce it off you guys to hopefully narrow it down. I recently replaced the driver'* side outer tie rod. There was a ton of play and it was overdue. Had it re-aligned and now after a few weeks I'm getting a sound I can only describe as a German Stuka dive bomber getting ready for it'* run...Starts off around 5 mph and climbs as the speed picks up, not affected by braking or giving it gas and it stops when I turn right or pull the wheel quickly to the right. As soon as I'm going straight or turning left it'* there again. So I read all the posts and it seems like it is the bearing (I'm thinking the left because it had all the stress from the bad tie rod end) but I jacked it up and there is no play at all. Nothing from 12-6 and nothing from 9-3. OK, must be the passenger side...Jack it up and no play from side to side or top to bottom...The question is do you think the bearing is going bad but not bad enough to have play in it? There isn't the slightest bit of play and when the guy aligned it he looked it over and even remarked that a bearing usually starts to fail due to stress from a bad tie rod end...

*** Moved from Lounge - Kevin ***

Any noise when you have the car in the air and spinning the tire...rubbing, grinding, squealing?

Try pulling the tire in and out. If the bearing is dry there my not be play.

Sorry I originally posted in the wrong forum...it'* been a LONG time!!!
I didn't have the car up on 2 jackstands so I couldn't spin the wheel very far. Had it in park...I can try spinning it around tommorow. When I was trying to rock the wheel side to side and up and down I also pulled straight back on it pretty hard. Nothing feels loose and no sounds like you would expect when a bearing goes south. I've replaced them on a few other older cars and it was pretty easy to see the play. I'm stumped because there just isn't any play at all. When I first noticed the sound I rotated tires front to back just to see if perhaps the sound was coming from a particular tire but that didn't change the sound...

Danthurs, you said if the bearing is dry there may not be any play. Is there a way to tell what side bearing it is? I'd hate to change the wrong side...

You will need to listen very carefully for the sound when driving. You should be able to here the side.

Sometimes there is no way you can tell the bad one by trying to shake the wheel or spin by hand. Usually the best way to tell is like you said the noise gets worse when turning left, that shifts the body weight to the right and the right bearing is taking the load.

So if I turn right and the sound stops it is the left bearing? I just ran it around the block and it seems like the left side...Could be wrong...the left side was where the bad tie rod end was...I want to fix it today but want to be sure of the side before tearing it down!

I had the problem in the *-10.. it turned out to be my right bearing. noise was going away while turning right.

ok im a professional mechanic in the sense that i do this for a living. that being said believe me i know its tough sometimes to guess while driving which one is bad. altho making that kinda noise its terrribly easy to diagnose. lift the vehicle, securely of course and drive it in the air and listen next to the hub of the wheel while its spinning. the side thats noisy is the bad bearing.