Confused If This Sounds Like Wheel Bearing Or Not.
My 2001 has been making an odd noise recently, it seems like wheel bearing noise, however it only starts after 30+ mins of driving. Although, it does go away under acceleration. My main question, is there anywhere to buy the hubs+bearings as an assembly, so I do not have to get the bearings pressed in myself?
Video of noise:
Video of noise:
Mine wasn't nearly as loud as either of those. What convinced me that my issue was a wheel bearing is that the noise changed significantly under side loading. If you're turning left and right, does the noise change significantly based on the loading of the rear end?
If you don't want to press in new wheel bearing and hub, you have to get a new Knuckle assembly, which is a lot of money. It comes with the hub, wheel bearing, and a new lower ball joint. It's not that hard to remove the rear knuckle, a bit tedious, and that axle nut takes either a really strong impact or some serious muscle. There's a lot of DIY videos, just show that to the machine shop. Shouldn't charge you more than $90 to press them in, and that's if they don't like you.
Check the wheel bearing easily by raising the car off the ground, rotate the wheel and feel for any play. A bad wheel bearing will make noise when you spin it, and it'll have play when you rock it back and forth. Bad ball joints can also cause that sound, because if the ball joint has slop in it, it'll make the wheel not track straight and cause tire noise after a while.
Check the wheel bearing easily by raising the car off the ground, rotate the wheel and feel for any play. A bad wheel bearing will make noise when you spin it, and it'll have play when you rock it back and forth. Bad ball joints can also cause that sound, because if the ball joint has slop in it, it'll make the wheel not track straight and cause tire noise after a while.
Last edited by Slowcrash_101; Dec 1, 2025 at 02:39 AM.
Not here to argue but mine did not make a noise rotating by hand and felt smooth enough. It also did not have play. Just a noise that got worse and worse until I couldn't ignore it anymore and the side to side variance convinced me it was a rear wheel bearing. All quiet after changing them.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post








