Unknown "humming" noise - Confirmed wheel bearing
 

I will have to update after I drive home tonight, but on my way to grab some lunch I noticed this subtle but very noticeable "humming" while I held ~ 40mph. The noise "pulses." It is not constant, but it "hums" for a second, gets quiet, pulses again, get quiet, etc. I don't dare call it a "whirring" sound, because that would kill me. :sweat: But it's something spinning, hopefully just a bearing, but I can't say for sure it is not the tranny.

It didn't seem to change pitch either, but I will have to add updates later.

Any thoughts, advice before I update?

Turn the radio and subs completely off and hope the noise goes away.

Sounds like a possible hub bearing to me

I agree, sounds like a possible hub bearing...

Pete you are at the milage now where the front Hubs start to tank

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I'm outta town this w/e Pete...you can't break anything.

Tires, by chance?

Yeah try rotating your tires.

What happens to the noise as you turn right and left? Does it get louder? Go away?

The only reason I did not suspect the bearings at first was because my idle has gotten quite noisy (whiney), tranny is whiney as well. I tend to fear the worst and I figured my tranny may be acting up. TC locks up fine though, and acceleration seems fine too.

I know though that a hub bearing can go quickly and suddenly, which could explain why I hadn't heard the noises before yesterday.

On the drive home tonight, the noise(s) was constant, not at ALL like my hub bearing failure on the Chrysler (that was LOUD!). It's coming from the passenger side, but at times it seems like it's coming from both :? I'll keep an ear out for it, and check the wheels for play this weekend. I may just eventually change both out (if $ permits) and hope for the best.

EDIT: No changes when I turn the wheels. I wish there was because that's how I diagnosed my last bearing failure.

Bill, my stereo was off so I could hear it :lol:

I also have crappy tires. They surely cause some noise too.

Update:

Since this started a couple days ago, I can say now it's undeniably the wheel bearing. It was extremely subtle before, but I knew I caught it at the early stages. It's pretty LOUD now. I can hear it over my stereo on Volume 50, and it sounds exactly as my last failures did on my Chrysler. Gets quieter as I turn the wheel toward the good side (or bad side, I forget at the moment).

Has anyone driven a fair distance with a REALLY LOUD bearing? I didn't drive too far when they went on the Chrysler since I had the warranty work done on it right away. I hope mine will hold up for a couple weeks. :?