wheel bearing symptom or something else?

[estomax]

hey guys,

i have a womwomwomwomwom noise that gets louder (and higher frequency) as speed goes over 40mph. say it out loud in your head and you'll know what i'm talking about :) At 70 mph it is quite noticable to me. I was trying to do the turn left/right trick to see if its louder on one side vs the other and i can't really tell the difference. the sound seems to be coming from the front and gut feeling says front right. another wierd thing i noticed is that when i stop on the brakes (even lightly) the sound goes away.

i have new front rotors/pads and just installed a new front passenger side wheel bearing hoping that would cure the sound, which sounded a heck of a lot like a wheel bearing. feel like an idiot now because it made no difference.

anyone else have experience with this noise and the cue that braking makes it go away?

cheers
Marko

[Turbwhistle]

I do believe if you jack up the car and try to wobble the wheel, if it wobbles you need new bearings. I may be wrong.

[basemntboy]

I do believe if you jack up the car and try to wobble the wheel, if it wobbles you need new bearings. I may be wrong.

It's worked for me on 3 previous cars, doubt Audi is any different. So I'd say you are right.
Is handling affected at all?

[Turbwhistle]

My bearings never went, that was just how i was told to check... i think you feel a vibration though.

[estomax]

the bearings would have to be in really bad condition for there to be a wobble i think.. my brother's subaru rear wheel bearing was howling at any speed over 30 mph and there was no noticable wiggle to the wheel when i did that one... but it's definitely something easy to check i will jack the car up and wiggle and see if there is any.

[A6Avant]

Marko.... I am experiencing the EXACT same thing....

I replaced my pads.... then my Caliper.... and nothing... so I ordered a new bearing..... But now Im worried Im on the wrong track...


Jeremy

[basemntboy]

Could your tires be out od balance? Maybe some weight fell off?

[redneck truck]

WomWomWom sounds like feathered/cupped tires to me. How are your control arms and alignment? run your hands along the tread and see if they catch on the edges of tread blocks. So many drivability, ride, and noise problems can be caused by shit tires.

[A6Avant]

Not speaking for OP but my issue is more of a metalic noise... And my tires are brand new second set of the exact same ones and they are brilliant.

[estomax]

yeah i have been putting off getting an alignment because i was hoping that replacing a bearing would get rid of my issue. i will get an alignment and see if that helps any, the car does pull a bit to the left, but i never had this issue from an alignment problem. but would cupped tires quiet down when i even lightly get on brakes? that is still my biggest clue i can provide. i'm going to have my wife take me out for a drive today with a stethoscope and listen around all 4 corners of the car to see if i can figure out if it's a certain corner doing this.

Marko

[estomax]

got my alignment, that didn't do much. was told though that my tires are not in the best shape and those could be causing the hum as well... didn't go out with stethoscope yet but will report back when i will

[Siricospeed]

That is exactly the sound of a wheel bearing going south! It will grow louder with time and will eventually be noticeable by attempting to rock the wheel up and down when jacked up. Another way that may help you (convince you) is to put the car up on a lift and spin the wheel with one hand while the other is on the upright. You can feel the roughness of the bearing through the upright! Best of luck!

[ECS Tuning-Audi]

To check the wheel bearings while the car is on the lift pull back and forth on the wheel to see if there is any play. It will be very obvious which one is bad as the good ones will not budge.

Hope this helps!

Jason

[estomax]

well, i lifted the car up and had my wife spin the front tires while i had the stethoscope on a wheel bearing adapter bolt and could definately hear a difference between the new driver side and passenger side. the passenger side had a on again off again hum to it while the drivers side had a smooth hum. by the way there was no back and forth play in the bearing while holding the top and bottom of the tire and jiggling.

in case anyone else suspects a bad wheel bearing, do this first:
get an automotive stethoscope
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/1521/img0868h.jpg
jack up car and put stethoscope on one of the bolts that holds onto the wheel bearing, have a friend or wife spin the tire, listen!
http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/2185/img0869rm.jpg

thanks,
Marko

[estomax]

well just pulled the bearing off and in my hand it definately feels bad. sounds/feels like there is sand between the ball bearings. found a new one that i'm picking up tomorrow. gotta get it all back together by thursday morning for drive to Portland. I was afraid i was going to have to suffer for 7 hours listening to this back and forth.

Marko

[A6Avant]

Awesome man!

[martianbooby]

good luck man
and btw awesome stethoscope, since i dont have something as awesome as that i usually use a really big socket with a long extension and i put the big socket to my ear and the extension to where ever... lol

[estomax]

good luck man
and btw awesome stethoscope, since i dont have something as awesome as that i usually use a really big socket with a long extension and i put the big socket to my ear and the extension to where ever... lol

I used to do that too, but harbor freight sells these for $3.99 so i picked one up. It works 20x better than the socket method.
Kicking myself now for not taking the 5 minutes to diagnose which side the bearing was bad on, but on the bright side i have two new front bearings!

[estomax]

well a little update. after reinstalling the bearing on wednesday night i went on a road trip on thursday morning and got back today. it wasn't a nice quiet ride like i hoped because the dang noise is STILL THERE!!!

so now i have new axles (unrelated), wheel bearings, brake pads/rotors(unrelated) and i even swapped the rear tire/rim to the front to make sure the wheel isn't causing it. My camera picked up the noise surprisingly well. it amplifies the sound so you can hear it pretty well, and with a stethoscope it is still coming from the wheel side, not the transmission side (listened to both sides of axle). it sounds like a clicking noise when spinning the rim by hand, and it doesn't do it on the passenger side.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzbTqMR9yXk

anyone have any ideas? I don't know what else to throw at this!
Marko

[estomax]

well i took the rim, brake caliper and rotor off and spun the hub nut with a socket and the ticking noise is still there. i have a feeling i have either a defective hub, bad new bearing or a combination thereof. i will take the hub center bolt out tomorrow and spin it so the axle stays put to prove the axle /tranny are innocent, after that the auto parts store is going to take this bearing back.

cheers
Marko

[RYEDOGINDAHOUSE]

What shape are your CV axles in? i had this same problem but can't remember if it was replacing the CV's or the wheel bearings that got rid of it. It is annoying sound for sure

[iowan]

clicking sounds like CV joint to me.
get a dial indicator and check your rim for radial and axial runout. you may have a bent rim.

If your original beariing felt rough it needed to be replaced anyway.

[estomax]

well here is another little update for anyone searching this problem in the future. i wasn't able to pinpoint the source of the noise and it has still been there. i finally bit the bullet and took the car to a shop where they diagnosed the problem. It didn't appear as anything obvious to them but they swapped out the rims/tires and the noise went away when driving around with other rims/tires. So either i have something wrong with my rims and/or tires. They suggested i replace my tires.

my tires are down to 5/32ths so they are quite worn. I think the next step is to get new tires..