Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Tire noise or wheel bearing?

My SVT has 54,6xx miles, and I'm running BFGoodrich T/A KDW's, which have a reputation for creating a lot of road noise - the tires are probably not quite halfway through their tread life.

Anyway, driving the car has become almost unbearably loud, especially between 60 and 65 mph - loud enough that it's difficult to have a conversation in the cabin. The noise drops off fairly substantially once you get above about 68 mph or so, but is still quite noticeable.

What makes me think that it's a wheel bearing is that the noise is most pronounced when I either have the steering wheel perfectly straight, or when I am going around a sweeping left-hand curve. When I go around a sweeping right-hand curve, the noise virtually disappears.

The easiest thing, I suppose, would be to swap the KDW's off for my snow tires (BFGoodrich Winter Slaloms) and see if the noise goes away. Before I do that, however, is there any way to diagnose a wheel bearing problem before I take it back to the dealer?

I bought an extended warranty out to 75,000 miles, and I am pretty confident that a wheel bearing replacement would be covered. I just want to know if there is any way for me to confirm it for myself before I get the dealer involved.

Many thanks in advance.

Seems to me like you've done the usual diagnosis which identifies problem with front right wheel bearing; I replaced my 97's at 60,000 miles due to noise.
Lower speeds until replacement might be good for your health.

mine is loud too, but seems to come from the rear wheels. How much are bearings all around?
Front?
Rear?

My rear end had a lot of road noise too, and I was CONVINCED it was bad wheel bearings (at 50,000mi). And I'm even a mechanic! But I just milked it for a long time, waiting to see if they would get worse. I mean, it was LOUD! Just like bearings. Then later on, when my tires got old and weren't really legal (at maybe 65,000), I put new tires on. And guess what? Quiet as snowfall on a cool winter's day! And now I have 105k miles and still quiet as can be. I would try tires first

My tour has the same symptoms and get's quiet when sweeping to the right. I've jacked the car up and the right front wheel has quite a bit more play than the left. The bearing is about $45, but you need a press (machine shop style) to get it out/back-in the steering knuckle.

Jack the wheels up and give each some firm shakes. If it moves on the horizontal axis, it's a wheel bearing. If on the vertical, it's probably outer tie-rod ends.

Your ear is best diagnostic tool for early faulty wheel bearing detection. Play in jacked up wheel more likely ball joint (vertical) or tie rod (horizontal).

****e, you are very correct. My left wheel bearing was cooked enough last year that the wheel had some slight longitudal play. (VERY bad)

That's what I used to think.

My tires are so loud, I didn't notice the sound until someone pointed it out. (Left front, 80k miles)

I guess I should get my tires replaced before I can't hear anything failing. Then again, maybe we should be shooting for louder tires!