Pinksick

Help everyone!

It all started yesterday when I noticed the rear driver's side wheel starting to squeak/creaking noise. The noise is coming from the center wheel hub and it sounds a lot like a creaking noise that a worn door hinge makes. Like a worn spring. So I took it to the shop today, they couldn't figure out whats wrong. As soon as they jack up the car, they couldn't replicate the noise. And it would only squeak at slow speeds, ~10-15mph or when the clutch is depressed and decelerating. It'll squeaks when I'm driving in a straight line or corner with no bumps or anything. They advised me to change the brake pads and I did (had to change it anyway with only 20% pad remaining), but the noise is still there. So they think the wheel bearing is shot. But I haven't committed to the job yet because they're not 100% sure if that'll fix the problem...

My car is lowered on Ground Control springs on OEM shocks.

In short, the rear driver's side squeaks when I drive really slowly, like grandma acceleration, or when I'm decelerating and clutch is depressed. Also, the noise is consistent with the rotation of the wheel.

Please help me I'm so frustrated and stuck. I'm running out of ideas.

dammitjim

In for the solution. My neighbor's Kia makes this noise whenever they back out of their driveway. It only happens in reverse.

CarbonCrew

Not being able to observe the vehicle myself it is hard to diagnose. It does sound like a problem that was cover in an issue of Honda's 'Service News'. Hopefully this helps.

Haulin' S

Wheel bearings. That's what I am CURRENTLY in the process of replacing. get a torque wrench and you'll pay around $50.00 to get the old bearings pressed out and the new ones pressed in. Fairly easy job. Check the DIY list at the top of the page for the procedure with pics. That's what I used and it worked great. I'm almost done with the build-up.

Pinksick

thanks for the input guys, but how do I know if my bearings are shot? I had them jack up the car but the problem went away. Now i do not want to commit to changing my wheel bearings if they're okay. Is there any way to check to see if I just need to grease it or change the entire bearing?

Haulin' S

If you're between 30,000 miles and 50,000 miles, I'm willing to bet $ it's your bearings. There's nothing there to grease really, and if you read up on the DIY post you'll find that doing that will make the squeak go away.... for now. However, you run the risk of damaging your hubs, AND your wallet. you're looking at around another $200.00 for the hubs alone, at a minimum. Do it yourself, save the $$, learn a new DIY, and it will make you a LOT happier! Just put mine back on the ground. New spark plugs will be here menana, then out for a test drive!

Haulin' S

Oh, if it's high pitch and a chirp chirp chirp kind of sound, you can reaffirm my last post and go ahead and change them.

Furthermore, the squeak will get much worse and rather quickly. Then you REALLY know!

S1997

First you might try re-torque-ing the bearing. That took care of my similar squeaking problem. If that doesn't work, you may have to replace it.

my2ks2k

if it's a metallic squeak that's rotational and wheel-speed dependant, it's almost certainly a wheel bearing. get your hands dirty!

you can try re-torquing the axle nut, on my first bad bearing, that made the noise go away for a little while. if the noise goes away, don't think you've fixed the problem though.

either way, i'd probably just replace the bearing

scuderiax8

sounds like wheel bearing.. that happened to me last year i have a bout 100k on my car. my right rear was making this horrible sound like it was on rails or something... dont wait too long to replace it. when i replaced mine it was literally about to break and possibly could have done more harm.. i replaced both sides just to be sure.. my fronts are still the original but so far no problems with them yet..