bad Wheel bearing

[ss2000slp]

Not necessarily true.

Done plenty of these style bearings, and learned my lesson. Especially on the rear of Explorers. Press the hub into the bearing, then tighten to spec. Then road test and re-tighten. If not, guaranteed noise. Subaru's are picky, too. Tighten to spec, or do it again. Not saying this is necessarily true for the Sonic (not having done one yet) but wouldn't hurt anything to recheck the torque.

 

[PlayCrackTheSky]

Done plenty of these style bearings, and learned my lesson. Especially on the rear of Explorers. Press the hub into the bearing, then tighten to spec. Then road test and re-tighten. If not, guaranteed noise. Subaru's are picky, too. Tighten to spec, or do it again. Not saying this is necessarily true for the Sonic (not having done one yet) but wouldn't hurt anything to recheck the torque.

Unfortunately your expertise isn't quite up to par. Guaranteed is a strong word. Likely...would probably be more suitable.

Observed this first hand last week...on the driver rear of my EXPLORER...

Installed new brake pads and absolutely could not get the caliper to reach over bracket. Pulled the rotor and everything looked fine. The only reasonable cause could be that the hub was too far out. Pulled the hub and sure enough the bearing wasn't pressed and was holding the hub out about 12mm. Pressed it and reinstalled with no more issues.

The reason I disagree is that I had put 20k miles on this vehicle since purchase with no noise or problems. No telling how many miles the previous owner drove it like this.

Long story short....noise is not a guaranteed symptom.

 

[ss2000slp]

True, guaranteed may have been too strong of a word, but I am pretty sure if your hub was out 12mm, there was some kind of noise. Whether you heard it or not is another story.

But my original intent was not to get into an argument with you, just to share my experiences working on vehicles for the last 10 years with the OP, and to offer a simple thing for him to check that may be causing his issue.

 

[PlayCrackTheSky]

True, guaranteed may have been too strong of a word, but I am pretty sure if your hub was out 12mm, there was some kind of noise. Whether you heard it or not is another story.

But my original intent was not to get into an argument with you, just to share my experiences working on vehicles for the last 10 years with the OP, and to offer a simple thing for him to check that may be causing his issue.

Apology accepted.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

 

[Chrish051873]

thanks for the information guys.

Guess what i had it torqued to the spec of style 1(1.5mm), 244 ft lbs

it should have been torqued to style 2(37 ft/lbs the 60 degree)

I did re-torque it as needed.

so i had maybe 50 miles on it torqued to that spec, do you think it toasted that bearing ?

and just to be clear, the noise has not changed a bit, from old to new bearing, from 244 ft/lbs to the new torque..
you would have thought that it should have cleared up with the new bearing, even for a short time if it was torqued to high.:blankface:

I made an appointment for the dealer to diagnose the issue, now im thinking it may be axle or trans...IDK

 

[Italianjoe1]

No if you ruined the bearing via improper installation or torque, it won't get better with less torque. I've had to re-do them for other mechanics at work who haven't pressed them in properly or what have you. I would suggest, if it was quiet at first then went back noisy, that you do in fact have another failing bearing and I would address that first off.

 

[Chrish051873]

Was never quiet, the noise has remained the same

 

[Chrish051873]

Also, the only time I do not hear the noise is about the first 5 minutes of driving for the day

 

[RMinNJ]

That's a huge difference 244 ft/lbs (need a giant torque bar ) vs 37 ft/lbs (almost hand tight with a 3/8 inch socket wrench). Really mixing up them other the way could be fatal?

 

[River_Rat]

That's a huge difference 244 ft/lbs (need a giant torque bar ) vs 37 ft/lbs (almost hand tight with a 3/8 inch socket wrench). Really mixing up them other the way could be fatal?

That's 37ft-lbs and then turn it another 60 degrees. Don't know where that ends up, but it's quite a bit more than 37 alone.

 

[ss2000slp]

Get both the front wheels off of the ground. Put your hand on the coil spring, and spin the wheel with your other hand. See if you can feel any vibration in the spring.

Also, before you changed the bearing, was the noise there all the time? Then after you changed the bearing, it was gone for 5 minutes then came back?

 

[Chrish051873]

Get both the front wheels off of the ground. Put your hand on the coil spring, and spin the wheel with your other hand. See if you can feel any vibration in the spring.

Also, before you changed the bearing, was the noise there all the time? Then after you changed the bearing, it was gone for 5 minutes then came back?

I will do that tonight.

Right after a changed the bearing the noise never changed, it was the exact same as before I changed it.

As I have driven it more the noise is getting louder, especially while swerving back and forth on the road, bit can only hear it while the swerve is going right.

It is also doing it at slower speeds now, starting at 30 mph.

And still gets extremely noticeable at braking hard.

Thanks for the info, I'll put it on jack stands tonight, do you think it's safe to take both tires off and get it to 35 mph and see if I can listen for the noise ?

Chris

 

[ss2000slp]

You shouldn't even have to do that. Just spin the wheel by hand. Compare both sides, and you should feel a difference in vibrations in the spring.

 

[Chrish051873]

Still think it's a wheel bearing, or axle or trans ?

 

[ss2000slp]

Without hearing it in person, hard to say for sure. But a growling type noise is usually from the wheel bearing. The way you describe the sound and the conditions you get it point to wheel bearing. Make sure the tire is not extremely cupped/chopped, brakes are ok, and that the cv joint in the axle moves freely, but definitely put it in the air and spin the wheels. Other possibility is that it's the opposite side wheel bearing.

 

[Chrish051873]

Without hearing it in person, hard to say for sure. But a growling type noise is usually from the wheel bearing. The way you describe the sound and the conditions you get it point to wheel bearing. Make sure the tire is not extremely cupped/chopped, brakes are ok, and that the cv joint in the axle moves freely, but definitely put it in the air and spin the wheels. Other possibility is that it's the opposite side wheel bearing.

tires are good, even rotated them.

brakes look to be in good shape, and have about 50% left

axle seemed to move freely.

guess it could be the other side, but everything pointed to drivers side.

how the heck do you get the abs sensor out without rendering it useless, i ever so gently tapped on the drivers side one and its shot now...POS they are.

 

[Chrish051873]

Get both the front wheels off of the ground. Put your hand on the coil spring, and spin the wheel with your other hand. See if you can feel any vibration in the spring.

Also, before you changed the bearing, was the noise there all the time? Then after you changed the bearing, it was gone for 5 minutes then came back?

ok, jacked the front of car up. Trans in neutral.

spun drivers side tire(replaced this wheel bearing) went around pretty smooth, besides my warped rotors that i heard my brakes dragging on a little bit, but felt NO vibration at all while holding the spring.

spun pass side tire, again, warped rots for sure, i should get them turned again, but anyway while holding the spring, i did feel something, i'm not sure what, but there was definitely something there.

so as of right now, I'm out close to 150 bucks doing the drivers side
if i did the pass side i would be out close to 175 more bucks , don't ask me why but the ABS sensor costs more on this side.

so should i just bite the bullet and change the passenger side bearing and ABS sensor ?

or should i pay the dealer to tell me what is wrong with it, and pay them 100+ for that service ? I already have an appointment tomorrow at 9am, i could cancel it tho.

I hate to just throw parts at it, that gets expensive and quick like.:blankface:

how the heck do you get the ABS sensor out without ruining it ? I tapped on the drivers side as gently as i could and it doesn't work anymore.

let me know i
chris

 

[ss2000slp]

You should not feel anything at all in the spring when you spin the wheel. If you want to double check, have someone run it up to about 30 mph or so while its in the air. But if you are feeling vibrations in the spring, its a pretty good sign that its a wheel bearing.

As far as the abs sensor, I have not taken one out on my Sonic yet, but i'll take a look at the service manual in a few minutes and see if there's anything there.

 

[ss2000slp]

Doesn't appear to be anything special about it. Best advice I have for that is soak it down with Freez-off or something similar and hope for the best. And make sure if there are any shims or spacers that they go back.

 

[Chrish051873]

Thanks.

I'm going to skip on the dealer visit.

I ordered the parts.

Never heard of freeze off, I always use PB blaster, will that be ok ?

Thanks for all the help, I'll update this thread when I'm done

Chris