XC70 2011, rotating noise and pulsing steering wheel

[rollin_home]

Hi ,

I'd like to ask your opinion of these symptoms on my 2011 xc70:
- there is a faint, pulsing, repeating, rotating noise that seems to be coming from the front left wheel area
- the steering wheel has a very slight pulse that corresponds with the above noise
- the car pulls a bit to the right, this may be a separate issue of poor alignment

I have checked:
- all the tires for bubbles or bad belts and found nothing.
- jacked up the front wheels and pushed/pulled at 3/9 oclock position, then 12/6 , but everything seems to be tight


Possible causes:
- noise, front hub bearing, opposite side was replaced 1 year ago, maybe the right side is now bad but this doesn't explain the pulse at the steering wheel.
- noise, one of the bearings in the front axle or the cv joint, could this also cause the steering wheel to pulse ??
- pulse at steering wheel with no brakes on smooth road, only a bad tire or ??

Thanks !

[BlackBart]

Badly out of plane LF brake rotor? (Brake pad hitting the rotor)
Brake caliper piston stuck and pad is contacting the rotor?

[rollin_home]

Thanks, Ill check that.

Probably for good measure I should switch the tires around and see if that makes any difference.

[rollin_home]

I was able to track down some of the problems.
The front alignment was off, the front tires needed a full rotation of the tie-rod end to get the toe-in correct.
It was toed-out and the inner corner of the tires was badly worn. The string method alignment got things back to normal.

With the above corrected the vibration is much reduced and steering is much better. However a slight vibration and humming persists. I believe it is either:

- the right front axle carrier bearing
or
- right front wheel hub bearing

Is there a way to diagnose the carrier bearing in the right front axle ??

Thanks