Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Maintenance Signs of a bad wheel bearing?

What are some signs? I have a grinding like sound when going down the road, intially I thought it was gear rollover but it does it with the clutch pushed in and its actually getting a little louder each day. Its speed related and goes away at a stop. It also seems to be louder under very light loads like going down a hill giving just a slight amount of gas. I'll be checking for end play tonight but just thought if there were any contours with bad wheel bearings what happened and how long did they last? BTW I have 46k on my cougar. Thanks

usually it will get louder when u turn cuz your putting more strain on it in turns also it should start to feel a little rough through the streering wheel like on gravel(when it gets worst)

I had a bad bearing and it was a constant hum.. kind of like an airplane.. it would go away when I veered left.. and louder when I veered right.. you should check and see if it goes away one way or not. I did not however have any wheel play.. what I did to diagnose side was jacked it up and spun the wheel.. you should be able to hear a little more noise. or you can put your hand on the strust tower when you spin the wheel.. you can feel helly vibrations.

-kev

My old Mustang had a bad wheel bearing at one point. At speed it would cause a vibration in the steering and make a grinding sound that got faster as the speed increased. It would also go away when steering slighty left and be more constant when steering right. Jack the car up and check for play on the wheel.

I'm not sure about contours, but the Mustangs have a whole wheel bearing assembly that has to be replaced to replace the bearing. It came prepacked and everything. Anyway, good luck.

-Matt

I don't know about cougars.. but I have an extra wheel bearing for my contour. (I bought 2) so if you need it.. let me know.. I will get it to you real cheap.

It must feel different to different ppl. I beleive when mine was bad you could hear it when I was going perfectly straight but not when the wheel was slighly cocked. This was at highway speed.

well that is how mine was too.. constant going straight and turning/cocked right.. nothing cocked left

Mine is just going stright and it seems directly linked to the gas pedal for volume, as it gets louder under light loads then it does when I let completly off the gas. I'll check it out sounds like this could very well be my problem. Funny they are usually designed for 100K and I got half of that Built Ford tough

Sound will vary with car design. My Tour is fine, but I had one that houled like an old ghost - & loud. Another didn't make any noise, just felt gravely when I jacked up the car & spun the wheel by hand - try this.

gravely?