How do you tell a bad wheel bearing with an exhaust

[casawhites4]

have a constant sound between 40 and 60 when the I press the accelerator when I'm coasting I don't have the sound anymore. Any idea what it might be?

[A62TURBO]

Could be the wheel bearing, try to find a nice and long down hill and coast down it in neutral to eliminate exhaust noise.

[fshowcars]

do you not have the sound decelerating or can you not hear it with the exhaust? You can jack up the car and check for play on each wheel vertically (Grab the wheel at 12 and 6 o'clock) to check to see if a wheel bearing is allowing play (moving too much). i'm sure there is a website showing exactly how to do it...

[RedRocketS4]

^^ i think that's how to check for control arms, but i could be wrong.

[fshowcars]

^ you can check ball joints if you wiggle it horizontally ... ?

:dunno:

[gointoscott]

If the sound goes away when you let off the gas I dont think its a bearing. Bearings will hum all the time except for when you turn sharp right or left then it will be quiet while you are in the sharp turn, but as soon as you go straight again you will hear the hum.

[A62TURBO]

^^ i think that's how to check for control arms, but i could be wrong.

+1

[casawhites4]

If the sound goes away when you let off the gas I dont think its a bearing. Bearings will hum all the time except for when you turn sharp right or left then it will be quiet while you are in the sharp turn, but as soon as you go straight again you will hear the hum.

Maybe that's it, I'm pretty sure I hear it all the time but I just really really hear it at 40 and above cause the exhaust note, how do I tell which one it is?

[gointoscott]

Have someone sit in the back seat while driving in the middle and you should be able to tell which side it is.

I have replaced both sides in the last year. the cost to have someone do it for you will probably be a few hundred bucks or more depending where you take it.

If you can turn a wrench yourself you can take off the hub assembly yourself with some tools then take assembly to a machine shop that has a press and press old bearing out and then press new one in, then put hub assembly back on. It will cost you under 100 bucks.

If you can find someone who has a press to do it for you for free it will cost you 50 bucks for the bearing- give or take dending where you buy the bearing.

Its not too hard and there is a write up with pics. for it I think on audiworld.

[casawhites4]

Alright then thanks, and yeah a few hundred for wheel bearings. Damnnnnnn

[dpdaudi]

Just from personal experience working on these cars in a shop and owning two b5 cars, if you have over 120k miles and never had them replaced you can bet all four are on their last leg anyway. The sound will make you go insane.... LOL

[GramCracker]

No one has said what a wheel bearing on its way out sounds like.

So, whats it sound like?

[AB18]

I can hear wheel bearings easily over a full turbo back catless exhaust. You know when you have a bad one. Also, ive had about 4 go now between my old A4 and my s4, and with every one i had if i jacked up the car there was 0 play in the wheel. So that trick of pin pointing doesn't always work.

[gointoscott]

No one has said what a wheel bearing on its way out sounds like.

So, whats it sound like?

hhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[A62TURBO]

You can kind of feel the vibration, I felt and heard mine between 30 and 60, after and before it would be quiet. I would compare it to a loud buzzing coming from a transformer on the pole in front of my house.

[rick_chicago]

AB18 is right - bad bearing easily overcomes the exhaust note. You'll know.

There's some debate over the effectiveness of the "slalom" technique of identifying the side (basically, finding a clear road and zig-zagging to load and unload each side of the car). It's how I isolated the prob.

Here's the link to DIY it: DIY Rear Bearing

[dpdaudi]

Agreed on sound. I've heard a few different sounds from them but the most prominent is that loud HUMMMMMM that is torture if it gets bad enough. When people would come in trying to figure out what the new weird drone sound was, it was always a wheel bearing.

[Dimcorner]

I have a hum coming from my rear diff between 60 and 70 ONLY during acceleration.
Nothing before or after. Doesn't matter if I'm turning. If I let off the gas the hum goes away instantly. Had a shop look at it and they stuck a stethoscope looking thing (has like a stick at the end of it) on the rear diff and he said the rear diff is what is vibrating.

[S4_NE]

when mine went bad, my car stated to get louder so that is how I noticed

[fshowcars]

+1

I'm new to s4's... so if the ball joints are riveted or permanent in the a arm, then sure... otherwise I'm pretty sure vertical movement on the wheel is the bearing and horizontal movement is the ball joint.

A bad bearing kind of sounds like a constant deep rubbing or grinding sound...

[DxC]

hey casawhites4? did you get my email? are you still selling those parts? i was interested in a crap ton of your stuff. [email protected] thanks

[A62TURBO]

I'm new to s4's... so if the ball joints are riveted or permanent in the a arm, then sure... otherwise I'm pretty sure vertical movement on the wheel is the bearing and horizontal movement is the ball joint.

A bad bearing kind of sounds like a constant deep rubbing or grinding sound...

Unless the bearing has fallen apart it's hard to check it by just moving the wheel around. A wheel bearing is round so vertical and horizontal movement wouldn't make a difference.

[Klum00]

Alright then thanks, and yeah a few hundred for wheel bearings. Damnnnnnn

wheel bearings are cheap man, you should be able to get all four for under $200. do the install yourself, it's simple.

[fshowcars]

Unless the bearing has fallen apart it's hard to check it by just moving the wheel around. A wheel bearing is round so vertical and horizontal movement wouldn't make a difference.

while I can agree... that is the most basic way you check a bearing, i've done it for years. I googled "how to check a wheel bearing" this was a hit:
http://www.fourwheeler.com/howto/84718/index.html

"The best way to check on the wheel bearings is to jack up a tire, grab onto the top and bottom of the tire, and wiggle it. There should be no play at all. At the same time you can spin the tire. It should rotate freely and not emit any grinding noises"


Also, some companies will sell hubs with pressed bearings... while they cost more, it makes it more of an unbolt and bolt up change, rather than having to press it. I own a press and have broken hub spindals and/or bent them trying to press seized bearings out. as stated above, if you're high milage, it's better to change rather than to wait until they go... when they seize up it gets ugly.

[rms-s4]

set it up in the air and spin the wheel then grab the spring and if you feel a vibration its that wheel bearing

[Jon_Rhea]

Yeah, like a couple people just said, you can jack up the car and should be able to spin the wheel and everything should be smooth. If you feel it "catch" in any places it's bad, or going bad.

[casawhites4]

I have a hum coming from my rear diff between 60 and 70 ONLY during acceleration.
Nothing before or after. Doesn't matter if I'm turning. If I let off the gas the hum goes away instantly. Had a shop look at it and they stuck a stethoscope looking thing (has like a stick at the end of it) on the rear diff and he said the rear diff is what is vibrating.

see this is my issue i let off the gas, and the sound is not there, but if i press the gas between 40 and 60 i hear the sound...hmm, no it could be my weheel bearings or my rear dif. damn damn damn, how do i find this out...im at 73000 miles im sure my wheel bearings arent already shot, but then again we do drive and audi so it is possible...

[casawhites4]

wheel bearings are cheap man, you should be able to get all four for under $200. do the install yourself, it's simple.

could i take the hub and bearing off my old casa, and swap those out, and then swap them to my avant, when the time comes??? or do you think the avant and sedan are different parts, both cars are 01.5

[casawhites4]

hey casawhites4? did you get my email? are you still selling those parts? i was interested in a crap ton of your stuff. [email protected] thanks

yeah i get a bunch of emails, hard sorting thru them...but email me again, and ill put a star by it, where you located, depending on the parts, might hate shipping it!!!

[rms-s4]

doubtful cause you will probably ruin the bearing, you can def save the hub but i would get a new bearing cant be more than 50 bux