Strange Noise
 

I believe my wheel bearing may be on it's way out.

I start hearing a "whirring" noise around 30 mph and it gets louder (but doesn't change pitch) all the way up to 70 mph.

I know wheel bearings usually change pitch, but can I drive figure 8's to figure out which wheel bearing it could be, if that's the problem??

The 2000+ can be a different animal when it comes to the wheel hubs. The pitch does not always change, nor does the turn right and left to find the bad one always work. I'd done real well on other cars finding the right one, but when I did my friend's 00 SSEi, and replaced the one that seemed to be indicated, it didn't quiet down. So, either both were bad, or I guess wrong. You can try the figure 8 thing and see what results you get.

I really can't pinpoint it, I mean, I think it's the driver's side front, but I am really not sure. If I wait for it to get worse, will it be easier to identify?

That being said, is it dangerous to drive?

Not necessarily. Some have had luck spinning the wheel and feeling a vibration by placing their hand on the spring. You could also try driving with the windows down, and listening for reflected sound off curbs to see if one side is louder than the other. Some have gone months with a loud bearing.

As Archon said, it's sometimes hard to tell which side it is.... On my 2001, I found a way to tell. If the sound changes when you turn your wheel slightly, it's the side you turned towards. From some knowledge of bearings that have lost there 'pre-load', I figure that the extra stress put on a wheel when it turns out will quiet the bearing. One thing that makes this all a little less important is that the other side usually goes out within 10,000 miles anyway, so you aren't out much if you change the wrong side.

I found which side it was on mine by warming the tires.....or simply serving back and forth with the windows down and a passenger. When I loaded the drivers side tire by turning right......it made the noise:)

The issue with these bearings is that they just don't have the thrust load capability that they should have been designed with. Thrust load is what is exerted along the axis as opposed to radial load which is felt at right angles to the axis. This is why when you turn to the right, the load goes to the left bearing and if it is making noise, that's where your problem is.

It may be the bearing just starting to go, but my dad drove it today and said he wasn't entirely sure if it was the bearing. I am going to wait it out and see if it gets any worse so that maybe I can narrow it down.

I had just taken all the wheels off to lube up the calipers, so maybe something is rubbing (not likely) but who knows, maybe I forgot to put something on right...(brake pad crooked?).
Probably not though, it stops just fine.

I will update as soon as it develops some more.

I am a Mechanical Engineering major, so I can understand how the distributed load makes sense. Thanks!

I had a similar sound 2 years ago and the brake shop said they simply re-adjusted the "backing plate" (No charge!) and the noise went away.

That would be mighty terrific if it was only the backing plate... I just went around and greased all of my calipers, maybe I bumped something by accident.

Does anyone have any pictures of the backing plate? Can I adjust mine?