please help figure out this bad noise in the front of my car

[mazdafreak7]

So here is the deal..when i bought the car it was making a noise in the front that sounded like a rapid clunk/grind that would get faster as you increased speed (a helicopter like sound). So i replaced both front wheel bearings and got new tires and an alignment..all was good, the noise went away! for about 3 days and now its making a different sounding noise, the easiest way to explain it is, It feels like driving on tires made of stone or like huge tread super swamper truck tires..its a very loud humming/grinding that is constant once i reach about 35 MPH. Does anyone have a clue what this could be? I mean the bearings and axles are the only two moving parts up there that would make a noise like this, so that would mean it must be my axles..but i haven't heard a whole lot of clicking from the axles, i only hear them clicking sometimes during full hard turns in a parking lot or something.. help anyone?? this is driving me nuts! do cv joints/axles make this types of constant loud noise like riding on tires made of concrete? lol i always thought axles just make that clicking/grinding noise and even that is only when turning. thanks ahead of time for any responses. Oh and i forgot to mention that i jacked up the front end and put the car in gear and listened to the wheels spinning and it was totally silent...?? no noise from axle or bearing area..

 

[hoindawall]

Sounds like tire balance. I would rotate the tires front to back and see if the noise moves to the rear of the car.

 

[mazdafreak7]

well i just had the tires installed like a week ago and after that the car was quiet for a few days until it developed this really bad sound.. i guess i could still try swapping the tires front to back and see what happens..

 

[pavone]

where did you get the bearings installed? that sound to me points to the bearing but it weird that they would go bad that fast... you said the wheel turning it wasnt silent, could be a brake, but does the wheel move (like pushing and pulling at top of rim)?

 

[mazdafreak7]

well i actually did the bearing job..i removed everything but then i took the whole knuckle to a guy i know who runs a mechanic garage and he pressed the old ones out and the new ones in and i reinstalled everything and the noise went away. i only did the right side at first and the noise stopped but i still wanted to do the left side just incase so about 2 weeks later of quiet driving i decided to do the left side because the right side was horribly out of alignment front doing the bearing on that side, within 2 weeks the tires with 1/4 tread were bald on the outside, this is when i finally replaced the left side and took it to tire shop for tires and alignment. Then it rode awesome..smooth and quiet but only for 3 days now the bearing type noise is back with a vengeance! please help! how common is it to get a bad new bearing that could have went out already? or is it possible something wrong with the car caused the good new bearing to go out?

 

[CHIQLES]

? are you calipers ok maybe there grabbing ? just throughing something out there check the pads for uneven wear.

 

[mazdafreak7]

well if that was the case then when i jacked up the car i wouldn't have been able to spin the wheel by hand so freely. if the brakes were catching it would have gotten stuck ya know..ill check it out again though. thanks for the suggestion.

 

[mazdafreak7]

im seriously starting to think its the damn right front wheel bearing again! that is the one that was bad to begin with. I went ahead and put both left and right bearing when i did it a few weeks ago but now the sound is really starting to sound exactly like it did when the bearing went bad the first time! is there anything that could cause a new bearing to go out that fast?

 

[SeR_Cyclops]

If you dont press the bearings in correctly you will leave little intentions in the balls and they wont last no time. If you press from the inside of the bearing it will cause this. so lets say your pressing a bearing in a hole. You want to push on the out side of the bearing, and if your putting it on a shaft then you wanna push on the inside. really your just trying to keep the pressure off the balls or what ever is in the middle.

 

[mazdafreak7]

but these sealed bearings are pretty beastly..i would think it would take alot to smash one of those things but the guy who i had press them has been a mechanic for years so hopefully its not likely that he messed that up..

 

[mazdafreak7]

what would you guys do? im kinda lost..only thing i know i can do is either take it to a shop or just start replacing s***..im going to replace that right side bearing again and if that dosent work ill get axles and if that dosent work then im screwed!!

 

[SeR_Cyclops]

it just takes a tiny indention in those balls and they wont last no time.

 

[mazdafreak7]

i see what your saying but this guy is a competent mechanic lol you would have to be pretty dumb to press the bearing in the middle like that...

 

[mazdafreak7]

ya know what im thinking about doing..im gonna go buy all new axles and a new passenger side wheel bearing, and replace that while im in there, im positive the sound is coming from the passenger side just like it was before i even bought the car, i just don't understand why im having so many problems with this..i mean its axle or bearing correct!??? and i installed new bearings and that was only a temp fix!! WTF?

 

[SeR_Cyclops]

the only noises of an axle making that I have ever heard is when you turn the wheel sharp it will pop.

 

[mazdafreak7]

yeah thats all ive ever heard too.. but ive also never seen a new bearing go out in a couple weeks..

 

[mazdafreak7]

....anyone else have any ideas? i swear it sounds like the damn bearing is bad again..but it only has like 500 miles on it! WTF!?

 

[mazdaspeedp]

i agree with what cyclops said probabley didnt install the bearings properly now they ****** up again did you do them urself?

 

[SeR_Cyclops]

I knew a guy and he was doing a wheel bearing in a pretty new Lincoln LS back in the day and he was pushing in the bearing and me and my dad was watching him. My dad was friends with him and when he pushed it in my dad was like hey dont push there cause it will cause it to go bad sooner and he was like Ahhh it will be ok lol and two weeks later it went bad again started roaring again and he had to re do it.

 

[mazdafreak7]

ok well i think im gonna just buy a whole new spindle with the bearing already in it, that way there are no possibilities of that being the issue