Hi all, I'm new here... first post.
I joined to post this question:

My '03 EX Coupe (110k hwy miles) makes a sound similar to bad wheel bearings... but I'm not sure its the wheel bearings. Its kind of a grindey, growley noise that increases in speed with the speed of the car, from 5mph on up. Sounds kind of like tire tread noise.

The peculiar thing is this: it does not always make the noise. It made it for a week or two, than stopped for a couple weeks, than did it again for a day, stopped, and it did it again this morning, but not this afternoon.
-It does not seem to be related to the temperature, or how far I've been driving.
-It made the noise today while it was raining, but not when it was dry.
-I hear no difference in the noise when I'm turning either way vs driving straight.
-Seems to be coming from the front left wheel, but its hard to say for sure
-Its pretty loud when its there. I can hear it over the radio.
-The front brakes and rotors were recently changed. Made no difference in the noise.
-Rear drums are originals w/ 110,000 miles on them. Miles are 90% hwy.
-My mechanic swears its the wheel bearings. I dont trust him, because it wasnt making the noise when he drove the car, yet he still thinks he solved it. He wants almost $400 for just one wheel.


Any way I can at least diagnose this myself? Can I jack it up and turn the wheel by hand and listen for something?
I dont mind having the work done by a pro, if it really needs it... but I suspect it might be something else.

Many thanks in advance to those who offer their diagnostic opinions.

 

As for diagnosing, when it does it again, take her into a parking lot, or a similar area and do "S" patterns (turn left and right while driving) if it gets louder when you turn right, it ***could*** be the left wheel bearing and the same goes for the right (this is just to help narrow it down) I think its entirely possible to have an intermittent wheel bearing noise, Now if you are able to, when you find out which side it is (if you can) jack it up, and roll the tire around, does it feel entirely smooth? and dont mistake any brake feel. Now if you still dont feel anything try removing the tire and spinning the hub, if the bearing is bad enough you will usually feel it.

Thats the best i got for you right now. If it is a wheel bearing, if your able to do it yourself, it'l be a cheap fix.

 

best thing to do is.....drive the car for a few miles, then pull over and touch your rim (be careful maybe really hot) feel each front rim if you have a bad wheel bearing the bad side will be warmer than the other side, also you may jack up you car and wiggle the wheel, does it have alot of play?


now i recently had my wheel bearing changed for 40$ i pulled the front wheel assembly off and took it to a shop had them press the old one out and press a new one in. then i reinstalled the wheel assembly myself.

 

What symptoms did the CV boots have?

 

bad cv axles will cause a popping noise when you turn sharp and also car will shake at high speeds

 

The boots don't make any noise-- but when they fail dirt and water gets into the joint and ruins it. Then you will have the symptoms that 94 described.

When you do the parking lot test, stand outside and have someone drive the car past and around you. That helps to localize the noise.

 

Nope. No clunking noise... I have noticed that it seems to make the bearing-grind-like noise after a short redline in first gear, but it goes away after a while from doing that. WTF?

(Car is an automatic)

 

drive it then touch the rim and see if its hot thenlet me know

 

when i had a bad wheel bearing it did the same noise ur talking about sounds like ur thread is hitting the ground but in turns you could def hear it more and it didnt come on and off it was there all the time but it sounds to me it might be going bad