How To Test For Wheel Bearing Noise

Wheel bearing hub assemblies can be tricky to diagnose accurately. These 3 easy tests can help to determine which bearing is the cause of the noise.

Step-by-step testing instructions

How-to replace - Ford F150

0:00 Intro
0:26 Identify wheel bearing noise
1:06 Eliminate background noises
1:49 Common wheel bearing complaints
2:05 How to test drive
3:07 Test drive for noise
4:16 Checking bearing for play
5:49 Spinning bearing by hand
7:05 Summary

[theprayingman]

I'm a professional automotive technician and entrepreneur. Removing the brake caliber and pads and then reinstalling the wheel helps to isolate just the wheel bearing for better accuracy for stationary testing

[kcawareness]

Had a hard to isolate bearing noise on a front wheel drive miniature-van once Found it helpful to loosen the axle nut a bit which changed the load on the bearing. A short test drive later and it was quite obvious that we had a bad bearing and exactly which one too!

Thanks for posting solid no nonsense, well sort of this video had a little well timed nonsense. Thanks anyway.

[SmittySmithsonite]

I've got burned by enough wheel bearing jobs that I just sell them in pairs now. A bad one on the left will mask a just failing one on the right. One time I had a Toyota Highlander with 200k on it, and all 4 were bad! Sounded like the driveline was ready to come right out of the thing - you couldn't hear yourself think while driving it! 😂 Great stuff as usual, Mike - I like that tip for Ford hubs, firing the engine up to release the hub.👍

[erickc]

Thank you for the precise information!

[sambitar]

Your logic like always impressive.
Thank you.

[ablackformula]

You can also spin the wheel by hand and put your hand on the suspensions coil spring (if it has one) and you can feel some small vibrations on the wheel that's making noise. I've also taken the chassis ear system microphones, cut off the plugs and soldered on banana jacks. Put one microphone on each spindle/caliper bracket or wherever you can, and play with the scope! Now you have visual proof.

[juergenscholl]

Thank you Michael.

Here comes a really best ever tip:

With the wheel in the air spin it over and put your hand onto the spring. You will sense ANY vibration caused by a faulty bearing. Easiest on coil springs but works on torsion bars as well. The spring just works as a big amplifier/antenna.

[FaithisKey]

Bryan should not be playing those games under the vehicle, I’ve seen those jack stand fail in the past. I actually have 4 of those brand new, I also have2 blue ones rated at 6000 pounds.

Much beefier than what you have in this video, be careful brother.

Thank you for sharing. Have a blessed day.

[bluegizmo]

Usually a bad wheel bearing will also cause the wheel/rim on that corner of the vehicle to get hot to the touch, or at least noticeably warmer than the other wheels, so that's the fastest first test to perform after a long-ish drive.

[jeff]

Excellent video. I noticed when I turn the vehicle wheel to the left the noise goes away. Would that indicate the bad wheel bearing is on the right? I have a 1998 Chrysler Cirrus. Thank you for the video.

[drjrjules]

Man the stethoscope test saved me here. I had no play in the hub but was getting an annoying hum and vibration at highway speeds. When listening through the stethoscope, there was no noise from the still-good bearing, and the bad one sounded gritty, like it had sand in it.. anyway problem solved!!! Thanks!!

[tashalousdadful]

Great video! I just had a mechanic replace a noisy rear wheel bearing in my Ford Focus. Is it unusual to still hear a slight howling noise right after it was installed? Do they sometimes need break in time? It sounds better but I'm still noticing some sound. Thanks for any info.

[johnnyblue]

I changed the brakes on all four wheels on my wife's 2009 1.4 Ford Fusion. The rear brakes are drum brakes and the new drums came with new bearings pressed in. Torqued to spec one has no play at all, but the other one has a slight looseness to it. Can't re-torque it either, because the nut is not reusable. I'm really not happy with the quality of the parts these days.

[alvinjimenez]

I have a 2018 Ford Raptor that has a noise from the rear left that sounds like the pad is rubbing on the caliper, took the tire off and I have clearance. I also have noticed an increasingly side to side rocking and humming noise. I can see it real well with a water bottle in the cup holder. (Ford Dealership blamed tires but I replaced tires with new tires and a separate time blamed the front ball joints which check out as good).

[gearhead]

For the real hard to find bearin noises, a chassis ear is a life saver

[mattimel]

I had the play left to right but then my buddy noticed the steering wheel moving. After one of us held the wheel there was no play at all. Could that still be tie rod issues or did the steering just not lock? Maybe also to note just one tire was off the ground.

[nickayivor]

👍👍
PRODIGY Go Tech Mike Becker and Ryan Wilsing
Happy Wrenching
Thank you👍👍
Take care and have a great day
From Nick Ayivor from London England UK 🇬🇧

[haywardsautomotive]

Great video Mike and also outside wheel turns faster so if noise increases turning right it's usually left wheel bearing and vice versa turning left...NOTE I said usually 🤣😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😄😄😄

[jneubauer]

So if the vibration/noise goes away steering left and comes back steering right is it the left side?

[xerxes]

I had an Opel Astra with no noise or play when the wheel of the ground and no play in the wheel, but when driving there was noise. The bearing feels smooth when disassembled from the car. The noise was from the wheel bearing changing it, and no sound was the first time for me I guess you needed the wight from the car to get the noise