Tire howl or nad bearing?

[buck91]

Working on a 2nd gen Olds Aurora and it has developed a significa.t howl between 30-50mph, peaking at 40-45mph. Definately coming from the front, possibly drivers side. Tires looks good with even wear and good balance, driver ft bearing is original with 140k miles and the passenger needed replaced this year. Noise does not change between straight/left/right turning nor with engine speed. Any thoughts?

 

[Trav]

Probably a bad hub bearing, 90-150K is about it for them depending on conditions. Rock Auto is a safe enough bet for Timkens for this car.
There is a load of NOS USA produced hubs out there for these. When you do this CV axle nut torque is critical, GM back spec'd it down.

Post the year and i will find the correct spec if you need it.

 

[Papa Bear]

What kind of tires and how old are they?
How many miles on tires?
Were they rotated frequently?

 

[buck91]

Arizonan silver plus, pretty new well over 8/32 remaining. Cant say on PO rotations but wear looks uniform and they were rotated and balanced about a month back.

 

[Bgallagher]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Probably a bad hub bearing, 90-150K is about it for them depending on conditions. Rock Auto is a safe enough bet for Timkens for this car.
There is a load of NOS USA produced hubs out there for these. When you do this CV axle nut torque is critical, GM back spec'd it down.

Post the year and i will find the correct spec if you need it.


+1 across the board.Timken or OEM are good options if it is actually a hub. Torque is also CRITICAL in terms of bearing life.

 

[mrsilv04]

No change when weaving back and forth? (as if you were going around traffic cones set up in a straight line).

 

[buck91]

Nope, no change when turning. I was of the same mind as Trav, though. Picked up a raybestos "professional" grade unit to match the passenger side -- and what would you have it, the noise is gone!

Weirdest thing though is that the old bearing is tight and smooth stil...

 

[Kestas]

Not weird at all. Most bearing failures make noise long before they develop play. The tiny bit of damage on the raceway will howl under load but you won't feel it spinning by hand.