Folks, howdy! I need some help identifying a noise that I think is a LF hub going bad, but I have never had one go bad before. The noise doesn't start until I'm going about 35mph and I can make it change pitch or have it go away when I act like a nascar start where you warm the tires ie........move the wheel back and forth loading and unloading the tire to the left and right. The noise sounds like a whirring or a fan blade that is out of balance. I know kind of a crappy description, but that is the best I can do. I took both front wheels off and although it seems to have just a bit off movement when pushing up and down, there is nothing visually I can see. The RS front wheel/hub doesn't have this movement? Anything else I should check?

Definately sounds like a hub bearing. There is a real easy way to check which side. Raise the front end of the vehicle off the ground. Put the car in neutral (make sure you either pull the parking brake or block the rear wheels) and spin the front wheels by hand. Put you other hand on the coil spring and feel for any grinding in the spring. The side that has the grinding feeling in the spring is the side with the bad bearing.

it does sound like a bad bearing. Does the sound change with speed?

The sound does get a bit worse the faster I go. I did throw the car in neutral today to make sure it wasn't tranny related. I'll try the grab the strut deal to see if I can feel a differnence. but I think becuase it doesn't really make any noise until I hit about 30, I might not feel it?

Yup, the good ol invisible airplane. First time I heard a bad bearing, it was a Focus, I thought I was getting dive bombed. Sounds like its not worn enough until the bearing reaches bearing speed. What ever side makes the most noise when you shift the weight of the car back and forth, like you were playing nascar, is the side thats bad.

I have had many vehicles that have had bad wheel bearings and NEVER made a noise. Putting your hand on the spring is the best way that I know of to tell which side it is. If it is humming then you will feel it in the spring. I just put one in a 01 Grand Prix yesterday and you could barely hear the hum. As soon as I put it on the hoist and spun the left front wheel I could feel the grinding in the spring. Trust me, its a fail safe method.

Musta had all "quiet" bearings in... as far as the 01 GP how did they know they were having a wheel bearing going out if they couldnt hear it? They dont make much noise when they first start out, and you can go for a while with out it locking up or being much of a problem besides lower MPG and annoiance.

I have no explanation for the bearing that wernt making the humming noise. 95% of them make a hum when they go bad. The one instance was on a 03 2500 Suburban. I drove the vehicle with the customer and NEVER heard a hum. Thats is when I never suspected a wheel bearing. He was getting a slight clunk noise when going over 30mph and turn the wheel ever so slightly to the left (as in changing lanes). But I didnt do it all the time. After wasting more than a half hour checking out a bunch of other stuff, I grabbed ahold of the tire and shook it. There was more than a half inch of play in the bearing. This thing was ready to fall off!!! These cases are few and far between though. The lady woth the GP wasnt too sure what kind of noise she was hearing. She said it was a whinning noise (the trannys whin real bad on GP'*). I droeve the car and heard the differnt noises and diagnosed it as the wheel bearing. She had no idea. It had apparently recently started because it didnt trip the ABS light yet.

I knew Bonnes were better than GP'* our trans'* dont "whine" about it when we jump in the go pedal. HAHA ok back on task......

Dude...you are aware that since 97 we have the same transmissions as GP'* right? One shouldn't whine more than another.

As for the bearing.. this sounds like it'* a typical bearing failure. As Dude mentions there are a few non typical failures that can lead us round and round until we discover the issue.