Wheel Hub Bearing Help?

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smooveride

Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2021
Messages
17
Consulted a few car friends who work on cars and they are at a loss. Any other known issues I'm missing? I'm tempted to just go ahead and replace the two front hub bearings and see if that fixes it, but I hate to spend the time/money if that ain't it! Thank you in advance!
 
Check the CV joints. Look for cracked or torn boots. You might get away with with re-lubing them and replacing the boots. If not you will need to replace the axle assembly.
 
Wheel bearings will probably get much worse before any catastrophic failure. In other words, I'd just ignore them until they get bad enough to be sure that they are bad.

That said, I just replaced the wheel bearings on my wife's Subaru. One seemed fine even after removal and one was a bit rough when spun by hand. The only symptom before replacement was noise while driving, like a very loud snow tire noise. So just even though they have no play they may still be worn out and causing noise when loaded with the weight of the car.
 
I noticed a slight drone/whine (not tires) at around 68-72 mph.

That was my symptom as well, and it was the right front bearing. Sort of a hum, not present a very low speeds, and not very loud, but pervasive. The bearing that came out has a barely perceptible roughness. Once replaced, with genuine Nissan parts :D , the sound and vibration were gone. My write up: https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&p=602528#p602528
My theory, half baked only, is the axle nut on my 2013 SL was so tight it distorted the bearing carrier, causing the bearing to wear. MOOG seems to be saying the same thing here "Many technicians use an impact gun when installing an axle nut on a wheel hub bearing which not only overtightens the bearing but can also cause premature wear to the hub assembly..." https://www.moogparts.com/technical...ly-tighten-axle-nut-on-wheel-hub-bearing.html

The idea that a strap on a carrier would damage the bearing does not fly with me--sounds like mumbo jumbo.
 
Bearings can be brinelled by vibrations while they are held stationary (eg road vibration while the tires are not moving). I guess it is actually 'false brinelling' but I've never heard it called anything else.

https://www.rexnord.com/blog/articles/bearings/what-is-brinelling
 
goldbrick said:
Bearings can be brinelled by vibrations while they are held stationary (eg road vibration while the tires are not moving). I guess it is actually 'false brinelling' but I've never heard it called anything else.

https://www.rexnord.com/blog/articles/bearings/what-is-brinelling

Fascinating! I had no idea. More detail here: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1433594/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Which would show up first, noise from false brinelling or noise from over-torqued bearings?
 
Which would show up first, noise from false brinelling or noise from over-torqued bearings?

Only the Shadow knows......but in either case the only fix is to replace the bearings so it probably doesn't matter.
 
Thank you all for the replies and insight. I'll have the front bearings replaced and see if that fixes it. Thank you again! :p
 
So.. had both front hub bearings replaced. No change in the noise or speed at which it occurs as I posted above.

Anyone on here have the rear bearings go bad? It really sounds like it's coming from the front, but it could be the rear? Hard to tell.. I just wonder how pervasive it is that the rear bearings go bad on these things. Thank you in advance!
 
Wheel bearings tend to transfer the noise to other parts of the car..... one good diagnostic tool for rear bearings (does not work so well fro fronts) is to turn the car hard to right and left as you drive along, you will hear the bearings growl much louder when the weight of the car is on them. Hard right turn causes a growl, rear left bearing is bad. I would ahve thought that Leaf bearings should be good for at least 100K miles so if they are bad it means they are poorly designed (too small for the load, etc.).
 
I had 50k miles on my 2011 and 82k miles on my 2015 without wheel bearing issues and there have been few reports of failures on the forum. All of my LEAF's had/have road noise that gets progressively louder as the tires wear between rotations (every 5k miles). Try changing tire pressure significantly (+/- 5 psi) and see if that changes the sound. You could also change the oil in the gear case to see if that changes the sound. I doubt that wheel bearings are your issue since you have already changed the front bearings without change in sound.
 
Ok.. found a freshly paved stretch of highway so I could really listen/try to diagnose. Overall highway noise was reduced by R&R'ing the front bearings, but the 68-72 howl is still present. You can barely hear the drone start at roughly 50mph and seems to increase with speed. It does in fact get much worse turning left when you are around the 68-72 mph zone, and it 's noticeably pronounced when the struts compress/unload while in the turn. I don't think it's tires as I fooled around with the pressure... and it was the same noise when the tires were brand new (also it was present before I got new tires, just not as noticeable).
 
Thanks for the update. Always nice to hear the end of the story , maybe it will help others. Looking forward to hear the heater fix.
 
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