Wheel bearing noise

Hi KalebRandolph,

This sounds like a tire to me but is there a way you can get a recording of the noise? That will help get us on the same page.

Did you ask the mechanic to just change the bearing or did you ask him to fix the noise? If you asked him to just change the part, they will do that and normally not ask many questions. However, if you asked for the noise to be fixed and he didn't, then I would return it to him and tell him it is still there.

If you can get a recording, it may be worth while to just rotate that tire to the rear on the same side and see if the noise moves with it. If it does then you know it is a tire. If not, then we can move on to the next possible cause. However, if you can post a recording of it at that point, it will help us get on the same page. Thanks

Always go front to back and stay on the same side. Some people say to go around the vehicle clockwise or side to side but this is over thinking it. You want to get the tires from the front suspension onto the rear suspension. This will give you the best chance at getting the max out of the tires. Going side to side or clockwise is not as effective and originated from people thinking they are smarter than the manufacturer.

I would do both sides just to keep them in sync but just do front to back, back to front.

Let me know what happens. Thanks

Okay. That sounds like a tire. However, I definitely understand why you went for a wheel bearing because they are similar. Normally you can tell a wheel bearing when the pitch or rhythm changes by swerving the vehicle to load and unload the bearing.

The fact that you moved the tires and you said it moved the noise is good. I am not as concerned about if it sounds like it changed sides because noise like this can travel through other components and it sounds like it is coming from different areas.

If you want to confirm a tire, I would suggest swapping each of the rear tires with your spare and see which one makes the noise go away. I suspect it is only one tire but it could be both so you want to listen for any change.

If you find that this is in fact tires then I would suggest you replace at least two at a time both front or both rear and not just do one. If this is an AWD vehicle then you will need to do all at the same time or you can damage the transfer case.

Let me know what you find and we can go further if the spare makes no difference but if you changed it from the front to rear by just moving tires, then it is pretty sure to be a tire.