Here's the deal, I have some type of "whirling noise" coming from the front wheels. I took the car to Sears to have my tires checked and get an evalution on it. They said the tires were fine, but that the wheel bearings needed repacked, the idler arm had some play in it, and my sway bar links needed replaced.
So I took it a little farther than that and here is what I changed
1. Both sway bar links
2. Idler arm
3. Centerlink or dragbar whichever name you prefer
4. Outer tie rods, Inner tie rods and sleeves for both sides
Then I greased everything up and took it to get aligned. Problem still persisted. So after I got the car back I went home I took the tire off to inspect the bearings that were only a year old. They were kinda lose as I could move them side to side with the cotter pin in it. So I tightened these up and took it down the road. Same noise but sounded better, I tried adjusting the tightness of the castle nut here and there but the noise still persists. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Rupert

 

Let's narrow this down with a few questions

1) Is this something that just started, or has it been existant as long as you have had the car, or had the tires put on, or since a recent brake job, etc..?

2) are you running factory style rims, or do you have something aftermarket that may be making a wind whistling type noise when spinning?

3)Is the noise speed related? meaning does it get louder the faster you drive, or gets only to a certain level and then stays that way regardless of speed.

4) Do you have the ability to put the front wheels onto the rear and visa versa? (some cars have "fronts" and "rears" specific, and will not interchange.

5) Does the noise change at all while turning or braking?


My personal "guess" right now without the above info would be the tires making noise.

 

Did you repack the bearings or just tighten the nut?

 

how tight is the castel nut? i usualy run it down to about 10 or fifteen foot pounds then spin the wheel to seat the bearing,then i back it off and run it down by hand till its tight (by hand i mean no tool just my fingers)i know others that tighten it till it doesnt spin freely then they back it off till it spins free and run it like that ... i perfer the way i do it... but regardless they should be rechecked after a short distance(4 or 5 blockes should do it) hope it works out for ya ... tao

 

Ok to answer your questions here goes.

1. This has been going on for about 8 months now. I have had the car for 5 years, tires for 3 years and brakes I change about once a year. I have had every tire check, balanced by sears by different stores just to make sure.

2. These are factory 15in. wheels

3. The noise is speed related. As I go faster it gets louder as I slow down the noise goes down.

4. As far as I know the rims can be moved no problem, I have had my tires rotated at least once a year since I have had the car

5. Like I said before the noise does become softer as I slow down. When I turn to the left just a little the noise stops and the car sounds normal, then when the wheel is turned back or to the right the noise comes back.

I repacked the passenger side bearings and then tightened the castle nut and backed it off but not the driver. My buddy did these bearings for me in about April. I thought I had the problem solved when I checked my bearings and found that the spindle had a deep grove in it and also a jagged edge sticking up that had scratched up the bearings pretty good. At that time I changed the spindle, got new bearings, and had the new races pressed into the rotor. Noise did not however go away

Just a few questions, what size socket is that castle nut? My buddy and I tried the biggest socket we had being a 24mm and it was still too small? I hope this helps and thanks for responding

 

How's the inner bearing look?

 

I would recommend 1st off to try rotating the fronts to the rears then to check for any difference or improvement, and thus eliminate this as a possible cause. Then after that if the noise is still present up front- we can check the next possible thing. If noise is now coming from rear, theres the problem

I say this because you stated you have the tires rotated once a years and it has started 8 months ago. Don't eer trust the company that sold you the tires to check them and so call rebalance them and put them back on stating thats not the problem. The damage to the tire ccould already be created and unfixable at this point- they aren't going to tell you that.

 

For the most part I rotate them myself, just once or twice I have had them do it. Anyway i am going to try to just change the bearings and see what happens. Ill try and do it tommorrow night and write back and tell you if that fixed the problem

Thanks for the help fellas

Rupert