Wheel bearing or bad tire? *update*

[DEMonte1997]

Whenever I'm turning left in my car I hear a roaring sound coming from the front right. The sound usually comes in when I'm making a sharper turn. As far as I know, that can only mean two things: 1) the front right wheel bearing is going out and it's getting louder when I put weight on it 2) the front right tire is making the noise (i hear these tires do this sometimes).

 

What does everything think? Is there anything else it could be? Could a bad tie rod make this sound too? As I said, it's a pretty loud roaring sound. Sounds like I have a low tire in the front right even though the tire pressures are fine. It also seems to be louder at lower speeds. I can't make the sound happen at highway speeds.

[GPRACER]

Check bearing for play. Usually if it's loud enough to hear there is play in the bearing. Another way is to jack and support the front end and hold one wheel with a large pry bar and see if one side is louder than the other.

[DiscoStudd]

Also if you suspect the tire then rotate them so you have a different tire on that corner then listen again...

[THe_DeTAiL3R]

Also if you suspect the tire then rotate them so you have a different tire on that corner then listen again...

 

 

My bearing was loud, but it was always loud going in a straight line and got louder the faster you went. The noise went away on a sharp turn.. sorta the opposite symptoms as you describe but similar at the same time so I dunno

[stilesr9167]

I replaced both on mine, I would take the tire off and spin the bearing (hub) iff it is really bumpy and kinda hard to turn then it is that.

[Canada]

Are the tires cupped?

[1990lumina]

My friends 96 Cavalier (I know it isnt a W-body but, ) the front wheel bearing went on it. I couldn't hear anything, but when you were turning either slightly or sharply you could feel it shimmy. So he bought new ones of ebay for something like $40 CAN each and replaced them himself and now his car is smooth as ever.

 

- Jeff L.

[DEMonte1997]

It's definitely a little bumpier when I turn the wheel left. I feel a little bit of vibration. It seems to make the sound when I'm going 20-50mph. It's louder at lower speeds. I can't really get the car to make that sound going faster. To me, it soulds like a low tire. I might be having tire issues... Just bought the car and 3 out of the 4 tires don't seem to hold air. They seem to lose 2psi/day. I'm still trying to nail down that theory though. Right now I'm trying to keep the psi up at 29 for each tire.

 

What does it mean to have a cupped tire?

[DEMonte1997]

Update:

 

I brought the car back to the dealer and they put new valve stems in all 4 tires. For whatever reason, the old ones were no good. Now that my tires hold air, I'm noticing that the sound from the front pass side is actually louder. It seems to be louder if my tire has more air in it.

 

Does that makes sense? When it only had 24psi in it, you couldn't hear the noise really at all. When the tire was over-inflated (35psi) you could hear the sound plain as day. Right now, I have the tires at 31psi and I can hear a slight amount of noise when turning left. I guess it's a bad tire.

 

I'm going to try to rotate the tires to see if that solves the problem.

[Regal_GS_1989]

It's probably a bad wheel bearing. the reason it would make less noise with a low tire is because the tire would flex a lot more and not put as much side pressure on the bearing. With high tire pressure, the tire can't flex as much and it puts a lot more stress on the wheel bearings.