Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Front right wheel bearing prob

I had a whine/growl in my front end that was more apparent at speeds below 60. It was the right front wheel bearings. The easiest way to determine if it is the right front is to steer a little to the right at about 35 MPH. If the sound goes away momentarily when you do that, it is coming from the right front. You unload the right front bearings momentarily when you cut the wheels to the right thereby causing the sound to stop for that moment. Same theory will determine if the sound is coming from the left by reversing the procedure. I would be surprised if the "whump-whump" is coming from a bearing. Generally, when a bearing gets to the "whump-whump" point, you're not going anywhere.

the reason for the bearings wearing out is that they are unserivcable. Remember the good ole days when you took your hubs off and cleaned and repacked the wheel bearings every 30k miles or so. Well we can't do that with our cars since they use sealed bearings. I wouldn't call it a reliability problem or even a chronic problem. Its simply the bearing comming to the end of its serivce life.

Both of mine are still good at 119,000 miles, but I plan on changing them when I put the new front end pieces on. That reminds me... Terry, any idea on when you will be selling the horizontal bushing control arms? I am just waiting on those poly ones to buy to start replacing front end pieces.

TIA

I have same problem (98 LX 2.5) and had both front bearing changed in last 2 months. As my speed goes up to 50 -60 kph the growl/druming is quite loud and moving side to side affects the magnitude of the noise as Joh Reece has stated. this is classic bearing problem symptoms. Also as speed progresses the noise first goes away then a slight constant howl develops around 90-100 kph.
My car has 165K km and the passenger side has now been changed 4 times and the drivers side 3 times. Now what was that about service life?
I have still have the same speed dependent growling after bearing replacement (twice in last 2 months) and the local CDN Tire shop is suggesting it is rotor noise. That is a load of you know what (touching brakes does not affect level of growl) unless rotors are rubbing against something else than pads. However I will change the rotors to the top end Raybestos product from my cross drilled Brembos and then challenge them to put their labor where there 'mechanic's' mouth is. (At least they claim a lifetime guarantee). If they are right then problem solved but I doubt it will.
It cannot be diff whine (hope not)since lateral steering movement has an effect on growl/druming output.
To put it mildly the bearings seem to have an extremely short service lifespan. Since front wheel drive vehicles in general have been designed not to allow periodic greasing of the front bearings it would appear that someone needs to go back to the drawing board on this issue. Remember that all motive force as well as high side loadings are transmitted through the front bearings. I have never changed front bearings on my rear wheel drive vehicles (BMW 2002tii and 1993 Ford 350 Clubwagon), but I have changed all front wheel bearings on all my front wheel drive cars. It is either a factor of not beeing able to service them or the design of having all driving and steering forces pushed through undersize bearings.

just the topic i was looking for! i took my car to the shop this morning and he tried to charge $300 for 2 front bearings and the install. i thought these things went for like $40 each? also how hard would it be for a newbie to replace the bearings myself? i'm getting alot of sound from the front drivers side

The bearings from aftermarket supplier repair shops go for approx $65 CDN (($40 US) with a total install bill including tax of about $165 CDN a side ($330 CDN total (~225 US)). It is a difficult install without the required pullers and bearing press. In Canada and US well equipped shops have special 'on the car' tools that let them do job in less than 2 hours a side. If you attempt to do, it will be an all day job.
Shop around for a reputable repairer. the dealer will charge more. Make sure they provide a lifetime warranty on the bearings (In Canada , Canadian Tire stores do, so other will likely do same across continent.