Humming noise. Tire or wheel bearing?

[look 171]

Wife's van has this noise coming from the front end. Wheel related because it starts to hum pretty loudly starting around 50 mph to about 65,hen it subsides slowly. Around 70s its only at about 30 %. Tires are started to wear, so it is tires or bearings? I almost don't want to jack it up to shake the wheels but should tomorrow. I know there are times there's no play and wheel bearings are shot.

[wdfifteen]

Does the noise change when you turn the wheel a little at 50-65 mph? Turning the wheel changes the load on the bearings and should change the sound. Definitely jack it up, shake the wheels and take a close look at the tires.

[Nickshu]

Straight line sounds like tires. Rotate them front to back and see if it changes. Then look at bearings, brakes, axles (if FWD), etc.

[Oh Haha]

Worn tires can give the same symptoms as a bad bearing. What brand van and is it AWD or 2WD?

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Rotate the tires first to eliminate the easy.

To share two recent bearing issues in my life-

My wife has a bearing in her SUV. It squeals like a loose belt, and will heat up and quiet down. I would swear it is a loose belt, but it is completely speed dependent, not motor RPM dependent.

Usually my bearing failures have been more squeals/ grinds/ loose bearings you notice while doing brakework, etc... but my latest volvo was different.

My volvo had the rear wheel bearings go last year or so. For months, I SWORE it was noisy treadwear. Sounded like a truck in the back. Straight line good old 4x4 knobby tread noise on the interstate type stuff. I bought a new set of tires(needed them anyway). No improvement. Internet search on subject suggested bearings. Problem solved. Bearings where in that car were bolted in/ not press fit and relatively easy to change. It really was hard to differentiate between the two types of noises in that case.

[ckelly78z]

My wife's Jeep Liberty just had this horrible sound at all speeds. The sounds almost went away when veering/turning right, but sounded ready to fail spectacularly while turning left. We thought maybe it was a bad tire tread on 8000 mile old tires, so I rotated the tires, and the noise was still in the front end.

We thought it was a ball joint, but there was no movement in the jacked up wheel to indicate looseness. It turned out to be a bad wheel bearing.

In your case, I would check the toe-in, and also check that you still have your wheel balencing weights (one could have fallen off).

[GH85Carrera]

Find a highway interchange or some curves in the road. If the sound is the same while in a curve turning left or right it is likely tires. If it changes in the turns it is likely bearings.

[flatbutt]

I just had the Taco's front bearings done because of that humming sound. I put it up on the floor jack and found too much (IMO) play in the wheel.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by LEAKYSEALS951

My wife has a bearing in her SUV. It squeals like a loose belt, and will heat up and quiet down. I would swear it is a loose belt, but it is completely speed dependent, not motor RPM dependent.

You let her drive it like that?

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by Nickshu

Straight line sounds like tires. Rotate them front to back and see if it changes. Then look at bearings, brakes, axles (if FWD), etc.

Just after buying my used 2007 RAV4 (70k miles), I began to hear a bothersome low frequency humming. 'Thought for sure it was the rear end.
Went on a RAV4 forum searching for tire noise to find out it was a loud set of tires.
Put up w/it until I needed tires...Yokohama's from Discount Tire.
Very quiet now.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

You let her drive it like that?

No, the car just sits around. I drive it around the neighborhood occasionally trying to figure out which corner of the car the sound is coming from. I think it's the right front, but no, the car pretty much sits as our honorary snow car with snow tires. Since it hasn't snowed this year, it really hasn't moved much at all. She's driving the tread off her new volvo....

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

We thought it was a ball joint, but there was no movement in the jacked up wheel to indicate looseness.

Lower ball joints can be tricky. If you are not a burly guy you may be better off taking the load off the lower control arm when on jack stands. The downward strut spring force can fool you. A strong guy can reef the wheel in and out to check for sideways movement. Unless it's a tiny Kia, I take the load off. Jeeps are hefty.

Another way to check is use one of those big honkin' pry bar screwdrivers with the bent tip and see if you can get movement.

[fastfredracing]

Here is how I diagnose wheel bearings. This method never lets me down. Jack up both front ( or rear ) wheels. If the car has struts with springs, grab hold of one of the coils, and spin the wheel as fast as you can with your other hand. You will be able to "feel " the roughness in the bearing, and the spring seems to amplify it a little bit. If you cannot get your hand on a spring, then grab the steering knuckle or upright, hold it firmly and do the same thing . You can also use a mechanics stethoscope to help you pick up the noise .
I have been doing this for years, so I know exactly what a bad bearing feels like, but if you are questioning yourself, just compare it to the other side. One will be smooth as butter, and the other will feel rough.
If it is awd, you need to jack up all four wheels, and usually run the car in gear, and just be SUPER CAREFUL, and try to grab hold of a spring or upright. The bad bearing will be evident. You could easlily rip your arm off here if you do something dumb.

[fastfredracing]

I find lots of bearings are singing away, making all sorts of noise, but have zero play in them when you shake them. Of course , if you find any play, there ya go .

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

Jack up both front ( or rear ) wheels. If the car has struts with springs, grab hold of one of the coils, and spin the wheel as fast as you can with your other hand. You will be able to "feel " the roughness in the bearing, and the spring seems to amplify it a little bit.

This makes sense. Thanks. Never tried this before. It would be a transmission of bearing imperfection through metal.

[2.7RACER]

I was convinced the rear wheel bearings needed to be replaced from the sound coming from the rear. Inspection with the 911 up on a lift showed the bearings were tight and smooth. I replaced the bearings and CV joints and the sound didn't go away. One day I happened to be on a fairly decent dirt road and noticed no rear "bearing" sound. That is when I realized the sound was coming from the rear tires. I replaced the rear tires and the sound went away. The good part is the rear wheel bearings and CV joints were replaced on my high mileage 911. Expensive lesson learned.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

I find lots of bearings are singing away, making all sorts of noise, but have zero play in them when you shake them. Of course , if you find any play, there ya go .

Long winded +1 below...........

Just finished a Jeep Grand Cherokee today that had perceived RF bearing noise but would not quiet with a flick of the wheel. Bought the bearing on the insistence of the owner. He said it was due at 200k miles.

Found the four bolts loose that hold the front drive shaft to the front differential from transfer case had been installed with blue loctite but were not tightened after a trans install two years ago. All bolt shoulders were 3/8" out and loctite was a pretty blue where they had not met threads. Made a noise that was "sloppy" when wheel was spun by hand and a had just a wee bit of movement.

"Fred, I found the noise", I say in a phone call. Fred says screw it, replace the bearing anyways.

Car is silent now but old bearing felt gravely. Not a bit of slop but it was tired.

I fixed the noise but I am not sure the bearing was the culprit. However, the noise was from the RF area and the front drive shaft is under the driver

[SCadaddle]

At only a tad over 66k miles on my 05 Subaru Legacy AWD wagon when I bought it last year, there was a noise in the drivetrain that was hard to diagnose for the next 10,000 miles. I'm talking a loud "tone" kind of noise that would change with speed, not constant in any frequency but variable. I checked the wheel bearings, the brakes, the CV joints....couldn't find anything obvious. By the time it started sounding like flying saucer in a science fiction movie, I finally took it to a friends shop and put it up on the 2 post lift. Jumped in and cranked it up after it was 6 feet in the air and put it in gear and got her up to about 50 mph while my friend listened from below.

BAD MOVE. The suspension geometry is WAY out of whack when the car is in the air and luckily I only managed to rip one CV boot and sling grease everywhere from spinning up the drivetrain. Nothing positive diagnosed from that inspection.

Then, about 500 miles later, doing about 70 on the interstate the ole flying saucer finally made one last series of "tones" before about 1/4 mile later thought I had run over an IED.

BAM! WHAM WHAM WHAM POW POW POW........!

Pulled over and had her flat bedded home.

Turns out the carrier bearing on the front to rear driveshaft was the culprit and when it finally decided it was done it went out with a BANG! Of course it's not a replacement item and I wound up having to replace the entire driveshaft, but that's another story.

[look 171]

Found little play (about 3/16") from shaking the wheel from 12 and 6 o'clock. Going to mechanic and have it pulled. Thanks guys.