[TheOtherLeft]

Hiya all,

What are the signs of failing wheel bearings?

Earlier in the week I replaced my front brake pads and rotated my tyres. Since then I have a whurring sound at speed, both coasting and accelerating and at all speeds above 40km/h.

The brakes appear to be fine and are not dragging when driving (it steers straight) or braking (when hard braking it stops straight).

Now my front tyres were quite worn and the rears still had square shoulders. The newer ones are now on the front. Could the whurring noise be from the square shoulders?

After driving for about an hour on the highway both my free qheeling hubs are hot to touch (maybe 60 degreees). I can't smell hot brakes.

Other then the whurring sound my car drives fine.

How do I check the wheel bearings?

Thanks.

[royce]

jack it up and 'twist' the wheel side to side to look for any play

did you swap tyres left to right? sometimes spinning tyres in the other direction will make some noise, it will also change note on different road surfaces

[FullyZooked]

+1 for Tyres. Bearings are usually more of a knocking, clunking noise. Most noticable when turning at slow speeds.

[TheOtherLeft]

Did the "twist" test on the wheels. Came up clear. At least it's not the bearings.

Is it still necessary to bed new brake pads in? The Bendix box said it's not needed so I didn't. The last time I installed Bendix 4WD pads I bedded them in but not this time. I didn't machine the discs either as they were relatively smooth.

[Scrawny]

FullyZooked wrote:

+1 for Tyres. Bearings are usually more of a knocking, clunking noise. Most noticable when turning at slow speeds.

That's cv's

I'm gonna agree with tyres. If it suddenly happened after rotating tyres then that's a pretty good giveaway. Still a good idea to check the bearings as per Royces suggestion.

[TheOtherLeft]

If it's the tyres I might leave them be as the "new" front tyres have a lot more tread then the rears.

I only rotated rear to front on the same side, so rear left -> front left and rear right -> front right.

[LAY80N]

Bearings can still be rooted even if their is no play in them. But in this case it does sound like the tyre change. Just swap them back, drive it and see if it changes.


Layto....

[alex]

if its still there arfter you change the tyres around check the backing plate behind the rotors because you may have lent on them and bent them in to touch the rotor when changing the pads this will also make a noise

[Goldnomad]

Simple check to see if it's the tyres. Put 'em back the way they were.
The correct way to check wheel bearings is to jack it up and grap the wheel at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock (position not time) and pull backwards and forwards.
Yes, you should always bed brake pads in

Robert

[whincup]

TheOtherLeft wrote:

If it's the tyres I might leave them be as the "new" front tyres have a lot more tread then the rears.

I only rotated rear to front on the same side, so rear left -> front left and rear right -> front right.

aren't tyre rotations meant to be diagonal? front left to rear right, front right to rear left?

[alex]

whincup wrote:

TheOtherLeft wrote:

If it's the tyres I might leave them be as the "new" front tyres have a lot more tread then the rears.

I only rotated rear to front on the same side, so rear left -> front left and rear right -> front right.

aren't tyre rotations meant to be diagonal? front left to rear right, front right to rear left?

no

tyre rotations are LF to RR, RF to LR, LR to LF, RR to RF

[TheOtherLeft]

Thanks for the tips.

I changed the tyres back and the noise is still there so it's definitely not the tyres.

I pulled the pads out and found this very unusual wear.
Left outside pad:


Right pads (with flash):


Right pads (no flash):


The gouge looks pretty bad in the pic with no flash but it's actually somewhere in between the flash and no flash pic.

What's with the wear on the inside of the pad? When I compressed the piston I used both old pads on the piston and a G clamp to push it back in. It appeared to go back in smoothly and squarly.

Spinning the right hub 1

Spinning the right hub 2

It appears quite noisy. Is this a bearing problem.

After I put it all back together and drove it, it still had the whurring noise but it still brakes straight and there doesn't appear to be any brake drag at all.

It's got me stumped.

[bakerboy]

royce wrote:

jack it up and 'twist' the wheel side to side to look for any play

i was under the impression it was done at the 12 and 6 o'clock position for wheel bearings, and 3 and 9 o'clock for steering components like tie rod ends?

[TheOtherLeft]

bakerboy wrote:

i was under the impression it was done at the 12 and 6 o'clock position for wheel bearings, and 3 and 9 o'clock for steering components like tie rod ends?

That's what I was taught as well.

[SuziBlu]

Maybe royce meant top side to bottom side.

Might have.

[PJ.zook]

Yeh move the wheel up and down with it jacked up off the ground and check for movement. If there is movement, it could be wheel bearings or kingpin bearings, so get a mate to put his foot on the brake and check for movement again. If movement is gone, its most likely wheel bearings. If movement is still there, its most likely kingpin bearings.

[atari4x4]

those pads are looking pretty 2nd hand, how old are they & what do the rotor's look like?

[Goldnomad]

Since you only replaced those pads very recently you have a serious problem. Can I suggest you get someone with brake experience to look at them?
They may be incorrect pads or they have been put in incorrectly.
Whatever it is, get it checked before you have an even bigger problem.

Good luck

Robert

[royce]

TheOtherLeft wrote:

Thanks for the tips.

I changed the tyres back and the noise is still there so it's definitely not the tyres.

I pulled the pads out and found this very unusual wear.
Left outside pad:


Right pads (with flash):


Right pads (no flash):


The gouge looks pretty bad in the pic with no flash but it's actually somewhere in between the flash and no flash pic.

What's with the wear on the inside of the pad? When I compressed the piston I used both old pads on the piston and a G clamp to push it back in. It appeared to go back in smoothly and squarly.

Spinning the right hub 1

Spinning the right hub 2

It appears quite noisy. Is this a bearing problem.

After I put it all back together and drove it, it still had the whurring noise but it still brakes straight and there doesn't appear to be any brake drag at all.

It's got me stumped.

Next time somebody asks if their rotors need machining when they change pads, i'll post these pics

[TheOtherLeft]

Mechanic said brake pad wear was normal for new pads on unmachined rotors as the pads were not bedded in fully yet. My rotors are fine - no scoring etc.

Also that my bearings were stuffed. Are Suzuki GV bearings sealed or can they be repacked?

How long do wheel bearings last? I'm up to 130,000km and never touched them before.

[flatcat_auz]

My 04 just had both rears replaced. 105000kms. Not overly happy with that and someone made a comment that 150000kms is the norm for gv. Well not for me it's not (or the $600+ that I spent to get replaced as buggered if I'm doing that work at home)!!! My old corolla 87 model been through bonnet deep water....original bearings x4.
In terms of checking for bearing wear/replacement the jack and check for excess play is the norm but two of my (one front one rear-had to replace front passenger @80000kms) bearings had no play and not what would be considered noise typical of bearing failure. For the rears my mechanic used a stethoscope to identify where noise was emanating from which was subsequently found to be both bearings.

[Chop]

Ok if its a vit, you wont always feel play in the front if theyre stuffed. i just replaced all wheel bearings on my vit. The fronts had no play what so ever but when i pulled them apart the outer race of the bearing was pitted to the shithouse!
And thats where my noise/hum was coming from.
Surely your rotors are stuffed if thats what your pads are like?

[Scrawny]

Rotors may not look stuffed but can still be worn unevenly. Get them machined, you will have much better braking and wear.