2000 Saturn SL1 Vibrations when steering wheel is at 0 deg

If even sitting at stop and u turn the wheel all the way to the lock postion meaning all the way left or right u will feel a vibration and it will whine.is that the noise ur talking that noise is normal.also when u say 0 degrees is that the postion ur talking turned all the way to teh left or right till u can't turn the wheel anymore?let me know.

saturntech9,

Thanks for replying.

By 0 degrees, I meant wheels/steering wheel is straight. The noise/vibrations start when I am driving and become very apparent past 30 mph.

Ok sounds like a front wheel bearing gone bad.do u have Jack stands and a Jack?if u do I can give u instructions on how to tell which one it is and that it is really the wheel bearing.let me know.

This is odd. I have the exact same make and year with the exact same issue. Saturntech9, could you give me the information you offered about how to tell if and which wheel bearing it would be?

Ok find a level surface block ur rear wheels behind them so ur car won't roll backwards set ur emergency brake.now jack ur car up so the front wheels are off the ground and place jack stands under the front of the car so the front wheels can spin.now put the car in neautral don't start it.now go put one hand on the front coil spring and turn the front wheel as fast as u can with the other hand.do the same to both sides compare the two if u have a bad bearing u should be able to feel it in the coil spring.let me know what u find.

Great! Thanks for the reply. Also, thinking ahead a little, do you recommend replacing the hub assembly as opposed to just replacing the bearings? it has 160K miles on it and there is only a 40$ difference for the whole assembly.

Only the rear bearing comes as a assembley the front u can get the bearing by itself or the hub by itself u can also get the knuckle with the bearing already pressed in it.but then u would have to press the hub into the bearing.I would just get the bearing that presses into the knuckle.when u remove the hub sometimes the outter bearing race is stuck to the hub the bearing falls apart sometimes.if that happens then u will have to ethier buy a new hub or remove the bearing race that is a possible added expense.so I would just get the bearing not the knuckle and bearing together that would be a waste of money.if u have a harbor frieght by u they have bearing remover and installer tools by u reasonable and they have 20 percent off one item cupons right now.let me know how it goes.

Sorry I gave u the wrong info I worked for a Saturn dealers over 16yrs and the way the bearing was available thru Saturn was ethier the bearing itself or in the knuckle.I looked to what u were calling the hub assembley what there calling the hub assembley really isn't.it's just a kit that has the bearing and the hub with the wheel studs there both seperate pieces not a bolt assembley like the rear is that's why when I read for 40 u could get the asssembley I was thrown off I replaced alot of those front bearing and know there seperate pieces.so it's up to u if u want to buy the bearing or the bearing and hub together.it all depends on if the hub comes clean with no bearing race attached to it.even if the race comes off with u can always remove the race unless u don't have the tools to remove it.to save money u might want to wait and see if the hub comes out clean that's up to u.let me know how it goes.