Our 2001 Olds Intrigue with 115k miles has developed an interesting sound.
One I reach about 20 MPH, a grinding noise starts to come from the front end. This noise changes with wheel speed, not engine speed. The noise becomes quieter when I turn the steering wheel to the left.
My instinct/opinion is that I have bad wheel bearings. I think this is the issue I had with one of my old cars when I started driving, but that was almost 10 years ago.
I really don’t want to have to take this to a shop, since I spent most of my teen years working on cars. I know bearings are cheap and relatively straight forward.
So, based on what I’ve said here, is that a reasonable opinion as to what could be wrong?
Furthermore, I’ve been an apartment dweller for the past 7 years. I need to buy tools, and I can’t remember everything I would need to do this. I know I need a jack and jack stands, as well as a 4-way lug wrench. Pliers are needed to take out the cotter pin (and are one of the few tools I have on hand). What am I missing?
Also, what would a reasonable mechanic charge to replace wheel bearings?
Wheelbearings or sluggish calipers could be the culprit I guess. If the sound disappears when you apply the breaks, you could probably count out the wheelbearings. If not, jack up the car with suspected wheel and turn the wheel around and listen for the sound. Check the calipers and brakepads. Then grab the wheel at 9 o’clock and 15 o’clock and check for loose play/woble. If there is is loose play/woble its probably time to change the wheelbearings.
If you want to fix this yourself get a workshop manual for your car. It will give you all information needed.
I’m too lazy to Google it, but if the car is front wheel drive then a) there are a lot of other possiblities beyond wheel bearings, and b) most of them are not apartment parking lot repairs.
My recollection of changing rearwheel bearings on traditional American RWD cars is you’re gonna need a press to get the old bearing out & the new one in. If your car is FWD & if the issue really is bearings, you’ll need suitable tools.
Used to be you could take the larger part(s) off the car & bring the bearing carrier to a greasy parts shop run by “Bob” & they’d pull & replace it for nothing if you bought the bearing from them. Most franchise auto parts stores today have neither the tools nor the expertise to do that.
The symptoms described are typical of a faulty wheel bearing, and you’re almost certainly right in thinking that’s the problem.
The design on your car is different from what you had on your old car, and you’re wrong in thinking the bearing is cheap and the repair is easy.
What your car has in the front is a sealed double bearing integral with the wheel hub, on each side. With this type of bearing, unlike the older design you’re familiar with, noise when turning right does not definitely mean it’s the left-side bearing - it could be the left portion of the right-side double bearing. The first step is to positively identify which bearing is faulty. While the location of the noise indicates it’s almost certainly from the front, do not overlook the rear bearings, as noises can sometimes fool you.
Assuming it is a front bearing, my info indicates a puller may be necessary to get the front drive axle free from the bearing/hub assembly. It also says in no uncertain terms to use new bearing-to-steering knuckle bolts (dealer-only special bolts, I’m sure) any time those bolts are loosened or removed.
The job isn’t necessarily difficult, but a repair manual is strongly advised for those who haven’t done it before. It may take some effort and ingenuity to separate the bearing carrier from the knuckle (they tend to rust in a bit). Proper size sockets for the drive axle nut and bearing retainer bolts (which may be spline rather than hex) will be needed, as will a torque wrench capable of 160 ft.lbs.
The bearing/hub assembly runs about 300 from a dealer, less I’m sure from an aftermarket parts store.
Your car has a "Hub and Bearing " assembly. The full unit gets replaced.
I’ll try to walk you thru this.
Remove wheel cover/gain access to spindle nut in center of hub and loosten
Raise car safely and place on stands under frame/unibody
Remove tire/ wheel unit
Remove caliper and hang from a stiff wire
Remove rotor
Remove the hub nut now. Hub sockets can be rented at parts stores
Turn hub to one side to gain access to bolts in the rear of the hub OR
7a) Use the large hole in the hub flange to access the bolt heads that hold the hub to the knuckle
Remove them.
If you have a slide hammer hub puller use it now. This is a special tool that can be rented at many parts stores.
9a) Use a flat cold chisel to sepparate the hub from the knuckle
IANAM, but I concur with the wheelbearing thought. My car (160k miles) recently had similar experience - louder noise when turning to the left, indicating that the passenger side bearing was shot.
I got about 500 more miles on it before it sounded like I was driving on a rumble strip. Although YMMV, I’m just saying that in my experience, when you get to the point of hearing them, their life span is short and it needs to be replaced.
I did the replacement myself, but I needed to have a mechanic with a press pull out of the old bearings and put in replacement bearings. All told, changing both sides was $300 in parts and labor, and a week with my car on jackstands in the garage. In retrospect, there were certainly things I could do to optimize the process, but this was the first major car repair I had ever done.
Long story short - not an apartment parking lot job, at least with bearings that are a single contained unit. When I was looking around at options for a mechanic to do the pressing portion, most seemed to say it would be 1.5 hrs of labor. Dunno if that is a rip-off or not, but overall it was certainly cheaper then a dealer repair cost.
This a different design from the OP’s. Like his car, yours has a sealed double bearing. Unlike his car, yours is separable from the hub. His uses a hub/bearing assembly and no pressing is required. It’s not the nature of the bearing that makes the difference, but the nature of the hub.