Noisy -Tires or Wheel Bearings?
 

Hi all,

I bought an '06 FEH a year ago for my GF. She's been complaining about how loud it is to drive for a few months. The few times I've been allowed to drive it it is pretty loud. I thought it might be tires, esp. fronts, so I rotated fronts to backs (& vice versa!). It seemed to me the noise moved, but I may hve been just convincing myself. Checking over the tires (Bridgestones, I think) it seems to me they are unevenly worn, which again leads me to think tires are the problem.
Others have suggested wheel bearings. The one with the most weight on this side is my BIL, who buys & sells cars all day long out in Las Vegas.

How would one go about deternining if the problem is wheel bearings? Are they any more difficult than other vehicles made in the last 20 years to replace (I've done most of my own repairs on everything else for the last 30 years - but I'm hesitant to dig into this one!).

Re: Noisy -Tires or Wheel Bearings?
 

I just went through this. My symptoms were noise worst at about 45 mph and the noise changed significantly when turning in one direction. Conventional wisdom is that if it makes noise turning left, it is the right bearing. I initially changed the wrong bearing. :confused:

The diagnosis technique that worked best for me was to jack up one front wheel at a time and run the speed up to 45 mph. The front differential allows one wheel to stay still and the other to spin. Needless to say, this needs to be done with extreme care. If yours is a 4x4 don't do this!

If you have a helper, they can listen from the outside. I had to rely on listening inside, but the difference was very evident between right and left.

Re: Noisy -Tires or Wheel Bearings?
 

Thanks! I do have the 4x4, but I once had all four wheels off the ground, so that's not a big problem. What sort of sound did you hear?

Re: Noisy -Tires or Wheel Bearings?
 

The sound that I heard was a high pitched whine about 400 Hz. Of course not a pure tone like this

http://onlinetonegenerator.com/

but it gives you an idea.

Re: Noisy -Tires or Wheel Bearings?
 

Thanks again. Gonna check it out again one night this week.

Re: Noisy -Tires or Wheel Bearings?
 

Another way to check if it is a bearing and determine which one it is, would be to do the following; jack the wheel off the ground, now grab the airborne tire and try to wiggle it on both its x & y-axis. A bad bearing will have some free play, usually accompanied by an audible "cluck". Hope this helps

Re: Noisy -Tires or Wheel Bearings?
 

I tried this and in my case it didn't work. The good bearing side did have a loose outer tie rod, which threw me off, as it feels similar to a loose bearing, but only in one axis.

Re: Noisy -Tires or Wheel Bearings?
 

Look on the side of the tires. If you have the original Continental tires, you have tire noise and need to replace with the Michelin Latitude tires. If you still have the noise with the Michelins, then it is a bearing problem and you have a 50/50 chance of fixing the right side. You can have noise from wheel bearings without them being loose. Wheel bearing noise will vary depending on whether you are turning left or right. You may need to have a shop do it because the bearings are an assembly and need to be pressed in.