A roaring sound when turning

[zimmerDN]

My car is making this roaring sound when the car is moving around 30+mph and turning right. The sound is like when you have something spinning but the object isn't balance. The frequency of the noise (how often you can hear it) varies with the speed of the car.

What could it be? I damaged that side of the wheel before when I hit the curb in the winter. Bent the wheel, changed wheel bearing and knuckle. I was charged for all that at the time, but the shop couldn't produce any of the damaged parts for me to see when I demanded.

 

[JTK]

As a guess, I'd say it's your front left wheel bearing. Right turns shift the load to the left. I just had the same exact deal with my 2001 Windstar. You'd notice the noise around 30mph and 60mph. A really great local shop around the corner changed out the hub assy for me for $250.

Joel

 

[zimmerDN]

Any other comments are welcomed.

 

[Quest]

zimmer-

with your wheel hit the curb before, the likeliness of damage to that side of the wheel bearing would be high, which typically resulted in bearing roar when turning (side force exerted to the bearing rollers/balls).

Find a shop mech with excellent hearing and experiences in dealing with bearing noise and then have him replace the offending bearing for you.

 

[Matt_S]

Wheel bearing problems are very easy to diagnose, BTW. Raise the car, grab the wheel in question at 12 and 6 o'clock and try to wobble it in and out. If there's any play, you have a bad bearing. The same test will work to test tie rod ends, too. In that case, grab the wheel at 3 and 9 o'clock. A bad bearing will result in play no matter what position your hands are in. A tie rod will be limited to play when grabbing at 3 and 9 o'clock.

 

[JTK]

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Wheel bearing problems are very easy to diagnose, BTW. Raise the car, grab the wheel in question at 12 and 6 o'clock and try to wobble it in and out. If there's any play, you have a bad bearing.

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Matt, I agree with this form of diagnosis 100%, but this wasn't the case with my Windstar. I could not detect any play and the noise was a bad bearing hub.

Joel

 

[pidster]

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Wheel bearing problems are very easy to diagnose, BTW. Raise the car, grab the wheel in question at 12 and 6 o'clock and try to wobble it in and out. If there's any play, you have a bad bearing.

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Matt, I agree with this form of diagnosis 100%, but this wasn't the case with my Windstar. I could not detect any play and the noise was a bad bearing hub.

Joel

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Probably because you listen to your car and know it really well, catching it early. Drive it a while longer and let those bearings shred some more, play will eventually be there.

 

[alreadygone]

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Wheel bearing problems are very easy to diagnose, BTW. Raise the car, grab the wheel in question at 12 and 6 o'clock and try to wobble it in and out. If there's any play, you have a bad bearing.

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Matt, I agree with this form of diagnosis 100%, but this wasn't the case with my Windstar. I could not detect any play and the noise was a bad bearing hub.

Joel

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Probably because you listen to your car and know it really well, catching it early. Drive it a while longer and let those bearings shred some more, play will eventually be there.

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Guys,

This was dead on with tapered roller(adjustable)wheel bearings as found from the turn of the LAST century 'till modern hub/bearing (non repackable,sealed units) came into use. Modern sealed hub/bearing assemblies make noise WAAAAY before play can be felt. Noise is dastardly to find, because if the rough bearing is on the left inside it may well sound like it's on the right and vis-a-vis. Also noise isn't aparent when weight of vehicle is removed, these assemblies must almost be in hand, held approx 3 inches from your ear and rotated back and forth .

New replacement bearing may be defective, crooks may not have actually replaced, or noise may be telegraphing from other side.

Good luck!

Bob

 

[Curious Kid]

Just have to ask, but does one notice any marks on the inner wheelwell (fender/liner)? Perhaps tire rub on something that's moving around in there? Has the bent rim been replaced?

 

[zimmerDN]

No marks on the inner wheel well. Wheel has been replaced.

 

[Kestas]

I'm the one in our company that does warranty analysis for automotive wheel bearings returned from the field. I've analyzed hundreds of bearings that came through our lab.

Alreadygone is correct in saying that bearing damage and noise occurs long before any play is felt. Except for Matt, most of the posters are correct with their comments.

It also takes a deft hand to determine if a bearing is bad just by rotating it. Not impossible, just hard to do. More often than not, the bearing must be disassembled for proper determination of whether it is bad or not. Modern wheel bearing are assembled in such a way that they cannot be taken apart without destroying them.

I've often seen impact damage that brinell the internal races and make a bearing noisy.

Most of the customer comments I read, describe a bad bearing as a roar or whine coming from the front (or rear) end of the car, most noticable at 30-45 mph.

Much of our warranty work indicates that half the time the mechanics misdiagnose a bearing and replace good ones. They also erroneously believe that bearings must be replaced in pairs, much like shocks and brakes. That is not true. Only the bad bearings must be replaced.

 

[tomit]

I wouldn't rule out a bad strut (unless your vehicle doesn't have them). My '95 Avalon's right front tire hit the curb several times. The mechanic said the wheel bearing was fine and changing the strut cartridge and strut bearing made the noise disappear.

 

[Quest]

Kestas-

Agreed with what you said RE: most of the bearing noise in sealed units are very difficult to diagnose (at least I have 2 Honda mechs mis-diagnosed it on my dad's 7th gen civic and I insisted that it was the frt left bearing at fault...go figure)

tomit-

The original poster's symptom was roaring sound while making a turn @ 30mph and that has to do with rotational components making a noise rather than strut or strut bearings. Afterall" your strut bearing isn't making that 30mph rotations while negotiating a turn (and neither would your strut make such noise, but more like groaning sound)

Q.

 

[Kestas]

My post probably wasn't all that helpful to zimmer. His problem may or may not be the bearing. It may have to get worse before it can be properly diagnosed.

In my personal experience, more than once I've heard a noise similar to what zimmer described... "making a noise while turning", and thought it was a bad bearing. It turned out to be severely worn or corroded brake pads. You see, while turning, the wheel assembly bends just a bit and the rotor makes contact with pads when it normally wouldn't.

Zimmer, what is the condition of the brake pads and rotors? I'm also worried about your earlier episode that damaged the car corner. That corner should get a thorough inspection for evidence of any rubbing before condemning the bearing.

 

[Harvey]

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As a guess, I'd say it's your front left wheel bearing. Right turns shift the load to the left.

It's been my experience,, if it's a bad wheel bearing, that the side that lifts is the one making the noise. I'll be willing to bet a cold one its the right one, if it's a bearing. care to wager??

 

[zimmerDN]

Wow, thanks for all the helpful responses.

The roaring noise is there when the car is traveling straight. It is more pronounced while turning. It's also the loudest at 30mph - 40mph. And yes, turning left will make the bearings roar the loudest because the damaged bearing is on the right (passenger side). By the way, the I have new pad/rotors/lines on the car so that couldn't be the culprit.

It's amazing when you have a room full of experienced people diagnosing a problem.

My next question is, what should I do about this? Leave as is until it becomes unbearable or inoperable? Or should it be replaced as soon as possible because it's causing stress on other components?

How hard would it be to replace a wheel bearing? I've learned a lot since I started working with this car. I've done all the tune ups and brake works without major issues. Do I have enough know-hows to change the bearings yet?

 

[Quest]

zimmer-

To start with, you'll need a 5t~10t press with lots of custom adaptors in order to properly press the bearings out of your hub and in goes the new one. You simply cannot rely on the good ole trick of using a slide hammer for the job anymore (been there, done that many moons ago with double-tapered bearings). You shall always seek the proper information on your bearing type, your hub unit constructions, etc. before you start going out on a shopping spree.

In as much as I would like to do the same work on my dad's 7th gen civic (lft frt original bearing suffered from growling after 86,000kms of regular road running), due to the lack of custom bearing adaptors and press, I too, have no choice but to rely of factory tech to do the job for me).

Q.

lastly, when in doubt, never use a hammer on those sealed, integrated bearings no matter how "familiar" are you with it. The hidden damage will not show up until after you put on a few thousands of miles on it.

 

[alreadygone]

Quest, if year,make,model has been mentioned, I have repeatedly missed it. On most newer vehicles the whole hub/bearing/spindle unit is replaced AS A UNIT. no press is required. If you can change the brake rotor you can change the bearing assembly, it's the next item to dissasemble after rotor. Going back together main concern is accurately torquing axle nut, then reassemble as if replacing rotor. Rule of thumb when pricing bearing job at my shop is; If bearing is under $50.00, it's probably a bearing only and will require press and LOTS of labor, If bearing is $75.00 or more it's likely a assembly and labor's a 30 minute snap. If somewhere in between, make the parts jocky at the parts store open the box and LOOK!

Bob

 

[Kestas]

It sounds like you're comfortable with the diagnosis (I am). Go ahead and replace the bearing hub unit at your earliest convenience. There's no sense to try to "get more life out of it".

Most hub units bolt onto the knuckle. Sometimes corrosion makes it difficult to get it out of the knuckle.

 

[tomit]

Quest,

Somehow road noise was transmitted through the defective strut/strut bearing. Can't explain how, just that the noise was gone after parts replacement.

Tom