98 s70 T5. Wheel bearing issue.

peacock · Post by **peacock** » 17 Aug 2009, 14:10

believeing the large amount of road noise i was hearing was coming from the front tires i replaced them as well as the more then worn rear tires hoping this vibrating noise would resolve it self. while cornering has progressed thanks to factory spec V rated tires the vibration still occurs. its from 45-65mph there is just a loud roar more then tire noise but deffinatly coming from the wheel wells. around the 70mph mark the steering wheel beings to wobble back and fourth which in 18months of having the car has only happened once when i needed new rotors.

is this possibly a wheel bearing issue or something else in the drive train.

thank you

Post by **jblackburn** » 17 Aug 2009, 15:01

Try this...get it up to speed and knock the transmission into neutral. See if you still hear the noise. Then, if you get on a straight stretch of empty road, get it up to about 60 and swerve hard from one side to the other (be careful, don't lose control - just change lanes quickly). If the noise goes away when you do this on one side or the other, then it's your wheel bearings. If it's constant through both of these "tests", it may be a transmission bearing - I had a roar like you describe in my old Honda, and it turned out to be one of those. Nonetheless, I'd take it somewhere and get a second opinion too - neither of those is good and something may seize up on you at any time.

mindshadow · Post by **mindshadow** » 17 Aug 2009, 15:02

I'm battling a similar issue, but from the "wheel wobbling" part (my wheel does not wobble) I'd guess either the front end is out of alignment or you have a bad rack and need to replace it.

C@lvin · Post by **C@lvin** » 17 Aug 2009, 15:09

Sounds like a wheel bearing to me. Usually its a sort of a pulsating noise. When it gets bad you can hear and feel it (wobble?). As Jack says, try putting load on each front wheel by going around a curve at speed or by swerving back and forth.

If the sound gets louder when swerving right, then it's the left wheel bearing. If it gets louder serving left, then it's the right wheel bearing.

peacock · Post by **peacock** » 17 Aug 2009, 15:17

ill have to give both of those a shot. and i should say its the steering wheel wobbling. which i guess would translate into the wheels themselves. out to test!

peacock · Post by **peacock** » 17 Aug 2009, 20:02

the noise is deffinatly a wheel bearing issue. the transmission from drive to neutral is silent and the noise is even heard at a slow roll now. and repeats with really every revolution of the wheel. now for the time and money is it worth it to get them repacked. do it myself. or by new wheel bearings?

Post by **jblackburn** » 17 Aug 2009, 20:05

Sounds to me like if they're that far gone, I'd replace them with new ones. www.fcpgroton.com is a good source for parts.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 17 Aug 2009, 20:29

They are a factory sealed bearing (hub assembly) and re-packing them isn't really an option. Someone here pulled the dust cover off and squirted some grease in but I have my doubts on how that plan is going to work out.

...Lee

csbrianp · Post by **csbrianp** » 17 Aug 2009, 21:53

My 1995 850 T5R had a squeal that came from the engine bay once you reach 65 mph. It didn't matter if you were in neutral or drive it's still there. The problem was 2 Bad wheel bearings.

The wobbly part I have on my 850R. Let me ask you is your car a little on the darty side? Like when you accelerate hard does it pull suddenly one way or the other, or if you are on a rough road does it take 2 hands to keep it straight? I learned how to fix this problem 20 years ago with an old truck I had, I replaced the tie rod ends and it stopped wobbling at speeds. I did this to my 850R and it still did it, so I replaced the lower control arms and inter tie rods and that fixed it right up.

Again, fcpgroton probably the best place to buy them.

Brian

peacock · Post by **peacock** » 18 Aug 2009, 04:40

yeah ive bought all my parts this summer from fcp groton. in fact i have to return some stabilizer bushings for the rear suspension that i didn't need. and ill be shopping around for the wheel bearings, since they are a factory sealed unit thats probably the only way to go with them. i think the start of next summer is the rebuild of the front suspension, arms, tie rods, etc.

hopefully new bearings will fix this issue though.