What Does a Bad Wheel Bearing Sound Like?

Wheel bearing noise can be tricky to diagnose since it can easily be mistaken for tire noise. Even when a noisy wheel bearing is the actual culprit, it can be difficult to narrow it down to which wheel is affected

The main purpose of wheel bearing is to allow the wheels to rotate with minimal friction. When a vehicle comes to a stop, the bearings start to cool off and then a vacuum is generated from the lubricant, air, and contacting metal.

The seals should hold the vacuum in place. If not, the sealed hub or the bearing will start pulling in air from the outside, which may include water and other contaminants. This can result in bearing damage and noise.

With a damaged or broken wheel bearing, it may sound like you’re driving over a rumble strip on the shoulder of a highway. It won’t be very loud at first but gets more noticeable as the condition of the bearing gets worse.

Wheel bearing noise can also sometimes be described as riding a bicycle as a kid that had a playing card attached to the wheel which hit the spokes as the wheel rotated.

While driving at 30 to 40 MPH on an empty road, turn your steering slight left then right, almost like you’re safely weaving in your lane. Wheel bearing noise (especially in the front) will be amplified when you you make that turn since physics allow more weight of the car to be transferred to one side of the car. This can also help when it comes to diagnosing which wheel is causing the noise and has the bad wheel bearing.