I have no idea what is going on with my car, but I keep hearing a humming noise in the front of the car. It started as something that I would only hear when turning left, then it got to where i would hear it if I turned in either direction, but would go away if I just let the car drift on the road. Now I hear this noise all the time, but it is really loud when I turn the wheel even a little bit in either direction. At first I thought it was a problem with the steering, like a pump or something, but it goes away when I'm not moving so it's gotta be something else.


Be kind to dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Wheel Bearing. You Half Shaft would click when turning if it was bad. Wheel Bearings are pretty common on Js. There like $60 but make sure you pick one up with a Lifetime warranty cuz i replaced mine twice in a year.

Jeremy

Best thing to do is get the front end up on stands and have somebody you trust run the car and turn the wheel side to side and you be underneth listening to see if it is a cv joint. For the bearing check: get the car on stands and grab the tire on top and bottom and try to move it. then try to move it side to side. if it moves just a little bit, that's the noise you are hear and need to replace the bearing.

Cool. Two more questions. 1: I've heard horror stories that a bad wheel bearing could be dangerous at freeway speeds - as in wheel falls off - is that true? And 2: So is it a pain in the @zz to fix? I just replaced the wheel studs on the driver's side because two of them snapped, and the rotor and all of that wouldn't even come off. I had to beat the snot out of it with a 4# sledge and soak it with some penetrating lube just to move the rotor away from the steering knuckle far enough to pop all the old studs out. I know I have to take all that off to replace the bearing but if I have to go through all that again there has got to be an easier way. Maybe a puller or something?





Be kind to dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

For the dangerous wheel bearing: False. The wheel bearing has nothing to do with holding the wheel on. The bearing is there to let the wheel spin a lot more freely and to help center ther hub.


I have a question for you.
Are you driving the car with two snapped studs and mangled studs? If so that's very dangerous.

No way, man. I'm a little crazy, or so I'm told, but I don't have a death wish. I replaced all 5 studs over the weekend. Long story short, the lugs came loose and I'm not sure why, but I hit a pothole or something, the two studs snapped, I took the car home and fixed it. It was a HUGE pain in the ass because instead of pounding the studs in, I had to torque them down, drive the car around a bit, then torque them down again. I did this a few times to make sure they seated in the rotor. Good to go.


Be kind to dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Did this all happen after you replaced the studs? There has to be something more to this.

I was thinking the same thing, but it was buzzing a bit before I ever had the problem with the studs. Not much, just when I turned left. I started noticing it when I pulled into a parking lot and I heard this buzz coming from up front. As soon as I straightened the wheels, it went away. It was intermittent for a while then it got more frequent. I even thought it might have been the tranny fluid, you know, maybe it was low and when I turned it ran the gears dry and that was what I was hearing, but I checked it out and the fluid was fine. I'm not ruling out that I made it worse when I was working on the studs, but this has been a problem for over a month, and the studs weren't a problem until Friday. Maybe the shock from me beating on the rotor when I replaced the studs ssped u the process, but if it's the wheel bearing, it's inevitable, I just didn't plan on helping it along. At this point it's process of elimination.


Be kind to dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

I don't know how a car's wheel bearing works, but i work on electric motors every day. If you were beating on it hard enough you could have destroyed the bearing housing. If that housing gets whipped out enough your bearing will go quick.

Okay, so I checked both front wheels. I checked the driver side first, since that was the side I replaced the studs on. According to the "try and move the wheel back n forth method" I have a bad bearing. No surprise, I guess. For sh*ts, grins, and morbid curiosity, I also checked the passenger side. It's bad too, again, according to the same method of checking. So I clearly have some work to do, and to make things a bit easier, I'm going to ask again. What's the easiest way to get the rotor assembly off the spindle/steering knuckle? I got the whole thing torn down, the torx bolts are pulled out, the spindle nuts are off on both sides, I can't get either one off. I've gone through an entire can of penetrating lube and a six pack of beer and all I have to show for it is a contact high and a hangover. Do I need a bigger hammer? Some type of puller? The Incredible Hulk?


Be kind to dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

By rotor assembly do you mean the Bearing assembley that bolts to the steering knuckle? If so Get a rather large chisel and a BFH. Just use the chisel to wedge the bearing assembley out slowly. Just go all around it and it will pop right out in a min or two.

Jeremy

Yeah, that's it. Wasn't sure what it was actually called. Anyway, back to beating on it.


Be kind to dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

well just in case your still having problems, first off you did the studs wrong in the first place. you have to pull the wheel bearing out to even replace the studs without hurting anything. believe me Ive done this many many times, i work on cars almost everyday. especially my cav. but anyway, to do this the right way you should get the car in the air pull off the tire, take out the pin and loosen the cv axel nut. to do this youll need a friend or a flat head screwdriver. either have your friend hold the brake or put the screwdriver in a slot in the rotor so it holds against the caliper while your taking off the axel nut, pull the bolts and take the brake caliper off, to get the rotor off you should have to take off two screws that are holding it on but theyre a pain in the ass cuz theyre made outta some soft metal so they strip out really easy. i take a phillips screwdriver and tap it into the screw and turn it out at the same time. once you get it loose its easy from there, there are three bolts that hold the wheel bearing on, theyre located on the back of the steering knuckle, i reccomend getting those loose, but dont take them out, take you steering arm loose, then take your lower control arm loose at the ball joint and seperate it from the steering knuckle with a ball joint seperator which you can get at auto zone for pretty cheap, you can then pull the cv axel out of the wheel bearing assembly and knock the wheel bearing out from the back or pry it out from the front if you want... while you have the rotor off you should check it for warpage. with beating on it with a 4 pound hammer it may be warped, doesnt hurt to check.. check your pads too while you have everything apart... hope this helps if not while your at autozone pick up a chiltons or a haynes manual for your car. they help alot... good luck man..

The way I did the studs was this: Car was on jack stands. I removed the wheel, obviously, and I removed the brake caliper and rotor (done this plenty of times because I go through about 2 sets each year). I removed the spindle nut - 20 something mm or whatever it was, cant remember, and the washer behind it (removed that with a couple magnet wands). I removed the 3 torx bolts that hold the assembly to the steering knuckle, and tried to pry off the assembly with a chisel and hammer. I never hit the rotor itself with the hammer because I was too worried about damaging it, only the studs, which came out easy, and the two that snapped I used a punch with the hammer because they snapped flush with the rotor. However, using the spaces between the knuckle and the assembly that were already there, I'm assuming to remove the assembly, I wedged the chisel in those and tried to knock it loose with the hammer that way. I was only able to get it far enough away from the knuckle to slip the old studs out and the new ones in. I've checked the studs, and they're properly seated, so I have no concerns about them. I realize it wasn't the text book way to do things, and I knew that from the beginning, but it worked.


Be kind to dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Im in the same boat i think. I get the loud noise when Im driving straight or turning left. When Im turning right the noise is gone. The noise is really load and annoying. Just need to figure out which side it is or just replace both.