Noisy Wheel Bearings?? **Fixed**

[daves16v 1]

A few weeks back my wheel bearings started to hum and I've only just got round to fixing them but I'm having a problem finding the offending bearing.

 

The noise gets louder as I speed up and can come on after turning a corner but I can't tell which wheel(s) are noisy.

 

Jacked the car up today and spun the wheels - no noise evident. There was slight play in one rear wheel. Do you think this could be the problem and can I tighten up the hub to take up the play?

 

I don't think it's the tyres as they were new about 7 months back and have never made a sound. I'm fairly sure it is the bearings as I've heard this noise before on previous cars.

 

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

Dave

[G60Jet 1]

play in the rear wheel, clues are there mate

[alby 0]

tbh i dont think you are going to able to spin an unweighted wheel fast enough to hear any droning.

 

just replace them on both sides. they arent expensive

[daves16v 1]

tbh i dont think you are going to able to spin an unweighted wheel fast enough to hear any droning.

 

just replace them on both sides. they arent expensive

 

..........but they are expensive if you pay to have them replaced and after spending £127 this week on the C, I can't afford to replace them all.

[Supercharged 2]

You can tighted them up using a new split pin, bear in mind they need a bit of play as they heat up and expand... If they are noisy tho the problem won't go away!

[alby 0]

..........but they are expensive if you pay to have them replaced and after spending £127 this week on the C, I can't afford to replace them all.

 

 

sorry,i assumed you was diy-ing it.bearing kits are only about 7 quid a side from gsf.

[dr_mat 0]

Could be the brakes binding on the disks - particularly if you have grooved disks..

You can tighten up the rear bearings, but the fronts have no adjustment - if they've gone they have to be replaced. It's usually hard to tell if it's the bearings on the front, due to the drive shaft going through the middle, but you can usually feel some grinding or lumpiness as you turn the wheel if they've gone.

[daves16v 1]

The rear driver side was the only one with slight play. There wasn't any grinding or lumpiness in any wheel. I'll tighten up the rear wheel and see how it goes.

[daves16v 1]

Can someone else confirm that I can just tighten up the rear bearing. dr_mat, I'm not doubting you mate but a friend told me the rears are not adjustable.

[dr_mat 0]

Someone told me the rears weren't adjustable too. But they were lying.. ;)

Remove the split pin, tighten the castle nut until you can just about turn the thrust washer by finger pressure (or a small screwdriver) and then fit a new split pin. I'm sure other folks will confirm that this is all fine.

Just don't over-tighten. It's worse than being slightly loose. Bear in mind it's going to expand slightly compared to when you're working on it cold.

[corradophil 3]

They are taper roller bearings which are adjustable, definately.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Don't tighten them up Dave. They have to have play and if the passenger side one has no play at all, introduce some ASAP. It's probably that one that's droning...

[dr_mat 0]

You can safely ignore me then. I only read it out the Bentley manual.

[theRuler 0]

dont swing off the wrench when tightening.

there probably is a torque setting (a very low one). but you shouldnt be able to physically feel play in them. you just get a feel for how tight they go.

[daves16v 1]

ok, now I'm confused even more.........

[alby 0]

as said above.tighten the nut until you are able to move the washer with light pressure from a small screwdriver.

[daves16v 1]

After tightening up the play in the rear bearing, the noise was reduced slightly but still evident.

 

So I bit the bullet and had both rears changed yesterday and now I have NO noise :D

[theRuler 0]

nice one!!!

 

noisy bearings suck

 

i had a front bearing on my mk2 golf get so noisy that it would make a thumping sound.

so i thought "oh go on then, i'll replace you"

[Kevin Bacon 5]

i had a front bearing on my mk2 golf get so noisy that it would make a thumping sound.

so i thought "oh go on then, i'll replace you"

 

You should have put your foot down and not yielded so easily, tsk... she'll walk all over you now.

[theRuler 0]

i have to change the front bearings in my c-vr6 in the coming weeks.

do the outer cv joints just slide out? or do they have to be pressed out?

 

(out of the old bearing i mean)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yep the CVs slide out....same setup as the MK2 golf....

[dr_mat 0]

I was driving around in an old Jetta TX for about 4-5 weeks with a clunking front wheel bearing because the garage wouldn't commit to whether it was the bearing or the CV joint.. (Being a student at the time I didn't wanna fork out dosh to find out...)

Eventually I worked it out when there was around 2-3mm of play at the top of the wheel, which accompanied the clunking..!!

I rang the RAC tech line who suggested I get it towed (he was pretty horrified), but couldn't be bothered with that and just drove it carefully to the garage.. :)

[theRuler 0]

cheers.

 

and i'll bet the big nuts on the outer cv's are done up 10,000 foot pounds of torque too.

 

the last one i undid was a strain.

i looked like deirdre barlow having a difficult sh1t.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Not quite 10,000 ft/lbs, more like 8,876.....

 

Let's just say you'll need a 200 ft/lb torque wrench and some bricks behind the wheels when you do the nuts up again :wink:

[corradophil 3]

and i'll bet the big nuts on the outer cv's are done up 10,000 foot pounds of torque too.

 

the last one i undid was a strain.

i looked like deirdre barlow having a difficult sh1t.

 

Looking at the size of you in your animation you'll have no problems :wink:

 

Get someone to put their foot on the brake pedal whilst you loosen it.