Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Wheel Bearing: Right or Left??

I just bought a 98 SE (5 speed, v-6) and I've had two mechanics tell me I have a bad bearing. One said driver side and one said passenger side.

The grinding sound only happens when I turn the wheel to the left or to a lesser extent when I go straight, but there is no sound when I turn right.

My problem is that I am going to get the dealership (more like a wholesaler) to fix it but I need to tell him which bearing as I don't think he can figure it out himself.

I personally think it's the passenger side bearing. I believe the bearing does not make noise when I turn towards the passenger side because there is no stress on the bearing.

Any help you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

I had the same prob and after I had the new one put it it was nice and quite But now the left one is going bad so if I was you replace both good luck

I got a 99 SVT and I just replaced the bearings on both sides. I also had to replace the hub on the drivers side because I had spun the bearing on the hub and ruined. Well after putting it all back together, I am still having the exact same noise that you were referring to. That was the main reason I replaced the bearings. When I disassembled it, I noticed that the drivers side bearing was indeed shot because of the amount of rust that was all over the bearing and hub.
So you can see my shock when I'm still having the same problem. It only happens from the drivers side. Going above 65mph only and just slightly turning to the right. It vibrates the hell out of the stearing wheel. I had the wheels balanced and that made no difference at all. ONly 10k miles on the new tires. I'm starting to think that it might be the drive shaft going bad on the drivers side. I was planning on taking it somewhere else where they can check alignment, etc.. Please let me know if you find it to be something other than the bearings.

Your logic correct, if wheel on outside of curve makes noise it is going/shot.