How would I know if its my wheel bearing that need replacing? Car makes a loud sqealing noise driver side by front end. Sqealing is there at all speeds, slow or fast. Its is present when car is going straight and if I turn my wheel to the left. It seems to go away when I am turning to the right. Do wheel bearings usually make a grinding noise or sqealing noise? Is the way to check wheel bearing to jack the car up and see if there is any side to side play in the wheels when you compare left and right? Its not breaks as I did those last summer. I haven't greased the tie-rod fitting in a while......could it posibly be those? I was going to try that this weekend first. Just looking for ideas incase its not greasing the tie-rods. Oh and its a 2004 with about 117,000km or 73,000miles. Thanks

Check the brakes, those are usually what squeel/screech,

my wheel bearings were making more of a grinding/rumbling sound and it DID get quieter when turning.

Pull off the wheel and rotor and see if theres any "play" in the bearing, does it wobble at all?


"A car just isn't a car without a little blood, sweat, and beers." -- Shadowfire

I think it may be the bearings because looking around online at www.patrsource.ca I found this
"Have you been hearing squeaks and chirps as you drive down the road? Unfortunately, it’s probably not the winged migration of the Canada Geese. Chances are the strange noises coming from your wheels are faulty bearings.
"
So I am thinking now that it is probably the bearings. What do I ask for at the parts counter? A bearing replacement kit? Just a bearing? Anything else I need or I should replace while at it besides just the bearing?

Listen to the first answer you got here.

First thing is to pull off the wheel and look at the brake pads. They have a little tab fastened to them that contacts the brake rotor and sets up a horrible squealing noise at all speeds. This is a design to save you money on purchasing new rotors that are destroyed by totally worn out brake pads. It screams at you.... "I'm WORN OUT!!!!!"

Don't just assume its a wheel bearing, it may be, but the easier, quicker, and cheaper thing to start with is front brakes.

Dave

Definately start with checking the brakes. Spin the rotors with your hands and see if you can hear the noise as it passes certain sections of the rotor. It could be a million things. Just use your head. Take it one step at a time.

I am pretty familiar with braks as I have replaced numerous brakes (pads, calipers, shoes, drums) on a number of different vehicles. I'll obviously check them once I have the wheel and calipers off on my way to the bearings just incase. But I just did the brakes at the end of last summer, and the car is a manual and I didn't put more than 20Km-25km on the car since. Just wondering though would the noise go away when turning to the right if it was the breaks or would it be there pretty much no matter which way you turn?

My 04 is doing the exact same thing. It has about 74,000 miles. Let me know if you find out what it is.

Raising it up to see fri or saturday. I'll def post once I get it figured.

My 04 had that exact same noise your describing like 3 weeks ago, heard it from as slow as 0 to 5 mph to as fast as 50 or 60 mph in my case it was the front brakes. The pads were right at the wear indicator. So i agree with david on this one unfortunately even though i caught the fronts right away, i still wasn't able to save a whole lot of money because the back shoes needed to be replaced also. But now i have a lifetime warranty on the front pads as well as the shoes on back, so if i ever have probs like that again i just have to pay for the labor. Btw car is an 04 Ls sedan 2.2 eco approx. 135k on it .

If it makes a loud humming sound then its your bearings. it will be easy to hear and really annoying. i had to replace mine about a month ago and it fixed it.

Ok so checked it out and ...it was the brake pad front driver side towards the outside of the wheel. Replaced all the pads so that problem fixed. Any ideas what may cause just the one brake pad to wear so much? I thought the pads I bought at the beginning of last summer were decent....gues I was wrong. I'm guessing one may be a deffective pad but can anything else cause just the one outside pad to wear, because all the others looked pretty good. The car doesn't seem to be pulling to one side at all, so it seems as if the calipers are releasing fully. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Did you see any Wierd patterns on the wear? Sometimes an angle of wear can give away some info.

It wasn't even wear. I believe that the front of the pad (side toward the front of the car had the most wear). It was angled as if to draw an arrow pointing forward. And it was just the outside pad on the driver side. Not tthe one with the piston behind it.

MDC wrote:Ok so checked it out and ...it was the brake pad front driver side towards the outside of the wheel. Replaced all the pads so that problem fixed. Any ideas what may cause just the one brake pad to wear so much? I thought the pads I bought at the beginning of last summer were decent....gues I was wrong. I'm guessing one may be a deffective pad but can anything else cause just the one outside pad to wear, because all the others looked pretty good. The car doesn't seem to be pulling to one side at all, so it seems as if the calipers are releasing fully. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

You've got caliper issues.

Either the piston isn't working as it should or most likely the caliper needs to slide in order to squeeze both sides of the brake disc equally. Over time goo and grime build up and the caliper sticks on the slides resulting in wear on just one pad or uneven wear end to end.

Take it apart again and clean up all the slide points and very very lightly put a high temperature lubricant on the slide points. If the piston is good and operating properly than your uneven wear should be fixed. A very $$ cheap fix!

Dave

The caliper slides and caliper pins are same thing right? They are in the same position as the bolts that hold the calipers on? So you think if I just remove these , clean them, lube them up and put them back to spec torque that may be my problem? Could I also have a problem with the bushings that suround the slides?

MDC wrote:The caliper slides and caliper pins are same thing right? They are in the same position as the bolts that hold the calipers on? So you think if I just remove these , clean them, lube them up and put them back to spec torque that may be my problem? Could I also have a problem with the bushings that suround the slides?

If memory serves me, you've got the two big bolts with the allen heads? Those bolts get quite rusty and at times need replacement. The bigger problem is the bushings in the rubber sleeve in the caliper. I'd take them out and clean them up where they slide on the rubber inside of the caliper bore. Sometimes a fine file taking off the rust on the outside of the sleeves works well. You can purchase the bolts with new sleeves. My guess is that the top or bottom works and the other is siezed hence the uneven wear. Do them all, failing this, new calipers (which are amazingly cheap!)

Best of Luck
Dave

Hi,
I agree with the sticking caliper theory. I've seen it hundreds of times. I use a small amount of anti seize rubbed with my gloved finger on the slides and anywhere the caliper touches. If you use this technique be Very careful to not get any on your pads or rotors. Or your clothes for that matter it will stain and even oxyclean won't get it off.

You can buy a caliper kit that should come w/new seals and o-rings, but for the money I agree new calipers are a cheap and easy way to go. But be advised you still need to clean and lube the areas that the caliper slides on. All makes are different just look it over and you can tell what I'm talking about.

I replaced the caliper slide bushings, the pins were fine. Lubbed up the pins with the lubricant that came with the bushing kit so we'll see if this solves my problem but it seems like its fixed for now.

MDC wrote:I replaced the caliper slide bushings, the pins were fine. Lubbed up the pins with the lubricant that came with the bushing kit so we'll see if this solves my problem but it seems like its fixed for now.

Great!
When you had the pads pushed back in order to remove/install the caliper, and reassembled did you take note if you could slide the entire caliper side to side with no problem? Yes, it will be a tad stiff but movement should be there.

Once you step on the brakes and the piston comes out to squeeze the pads against the rotor, you'll be hard pressed to get movement.

If the caliper slides, you've just fixed your problem.
Now IF it were a multiple piston caliper, it would be possible for one piston to seize and the others to work which would give you the same uneven wear, but you only have one Piston so you are good!

Dave

Probably the brakes. Wheel bearings make a rumbling, moaning sound. Like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0a-LdBnjQM

Nick wrote:Probably the brakes. Wheel bearings make a rumbling, moaning sound. Like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0a-LdBnjQM

Hmmm, someone didn't read the entire post. It was his brakes, he already replaced them and the noise went away. Now he had caliper problems which he fixed also.