Compy... If you turn the wheels all the way and look at the electrical connection you should be able to tell if the wire holding clip is metal or plastic.

Odd though..I've never noticed a plastic one.

mine was a plastic clip and housing. but there was no option either way. the connection is on the back side of the bearing, towards the back of the car. so depending on what wheel youre looking at, turn accordingly.

Nick, Bill- Yep, I'm on my way out to that frozen garage in about 2 minutes. Thanks for the feedback.

Ok. Looks like I have the grey plastic terminal ends.

BTW I need my car badly for the next couple of days til my bearing assy comes in. Do you think there is any chance the bearing will drag, heat up, and then try to freeze if I continue to drive it for 2-3 more days? I sound just started about 5 days ago. The sweet spot for the humming is about 35-40 mph. As I go faster the sound is less noticeable but still there.

Thanks for the help.

honestly, i drove on mine for about 5 months making noise. i dont recomend doing that by any means, but a couple days probly isnt gonna hurt to much, i wouldnt think. just keep your ears open for a louder noise than what yove been hearing so far.

Youll be ok to drive till it comes.I drove on mine for a while also.

Thanks for the reply guys. I do plan to drive her for a few days. Just hummin' along, singin' a song........................

My SSeI makes front end noise that sounds exactly like brake pads grinding, but the pads are in perfect condition. I went to NAPA and bought both wheel bearings and thought this would eliminate the grinding in the front end. The grinding disappeared but a new nocking noise was created whenever the steering wheel was turned hard to either direction. Took the car to a dealership who diagnosed the problem as being the steering rack. They wanted $1700 parts and labor to replace the rack which I declined. Bought a GM reman. rack and replaced it myself with absolutely no improvement in the nocking noise. When I took the car to get the front end alligned, I asked the tech to drive the car and see what he thought could be making the noise. He said he has seen many bearing replacements make more noise. He recommended I put the original bearings back on to see if the noise would go away or significantly change. Guess what? The nocking noise completely dissappeared but the grinding returned. No I am still wondering what the hell is grinding? Anyone here on the list have any "good" suggestions? The NAPA bearings definitely were crap, so I may get another supplier'* bearings and see if they make the grinding disappear. The grinding noise only appears when the brakes are applied at very slow speed and doesn't happen at every application of the brakes. Sometimes it won'd appear for days and then returns. Again, the pads have at least 5/16 friction lining on them. Anyone? Anyone?

I'm going to ask that the mods split this off to get you better exposure in your own thread.

Napa bearings are typically a great bearing. Can you elaborate if there were different levels of Napa bearing and if so...which ones you have.

Sure, there were 2 part #'* and I got the ones with the plastic clips. However, the first go around didn't work because the part # at napa didn't have the correct spline. I had to go back with the original bearing to prove to the dufus that I knew how to count spline teeth. After finally finding the correct bearing, I made my way back home to install. Now that I think about it, I wonder if the bearing he cross referenced is the root of the problem? My main point with this post was to see if anyone had also experienced a brake grinding symptom that actually turned out to be wheel bearings? Thanks for responding though. I just don't want to buy bearings again only to find out that the noise won't be eliminated. The NAPA folks were not to happy with me when I bitched up a storm about how noisy the bearings they supplied me with needed to be returned for a refund.