Possible wheel bearing noise

[idanny76]

I was hearing a humming noise, but its not too loud. I have replaced wheel bearing before myself and most of the time the noise is obvious where is coming from. I checked the wheels for play or grinding noise and could not pinpoint. All four wheels have no play and only the drivers side wheel made a small noise when I spin it, but it doesn't sound like a wheel bearing. I bought this car in February of this year and it had 126,000 miles on it. I have never had a vehicle with traction control and I wasn't sure if that was the reason for the sound. The sound just started about a month or 2 ago and since the rear tires were worn and not fully round, I went ahead and replaced all 4 tires. The sound is not so bad now, but it still there. I guess it was a combination of the tires and possible worn bearings. The sound becomes audible or more pronounced at around 35mph and gets louder as I go faster. It sounds like a wheel bearing going out..... I just can't figure which ones.

 

Anyone here have a similar experience? I have dealt with wheel bearing and you can definitely tell where the noise is coming from. I am afraid this might be multiple bearings both front and rear. Any advice would be greatly welcome. Also, I had to remove the dash to replace the evap temp sensor and the steering wheel is a little off, but the alignment is good. I disconnecting the steering wheel from the power steering and tired to adjust it, but I can't get it centered. I can't remember if it was off center when I bought it or if it went off center when I loosened the dashboard.

 

2012 Ford Fusion SEL FWD 4 Cylinder

Edited November 11, 2021 by idanny76

[idanny76]

Automatic and sound is all the time wether pressing or not the gas or break. Here is a video I just took. It's not a super loud sound, but it's there. My brother had really bad bearing and the sound was horrible. You may have to watch it on a PC and crank the volume to hear it. I turned the A/C off to remove any extra engine sounds.

 

Sounds are not loud enough for me to pinpoint it. I have spinned the tires while jacked up, but the front tires spin together and its hard to spin it fast to hear a sound. Like I said.... The driver side did make a clicking sound and I assumed it was the traction control.... It just didn't seem like wheel bearing sounds.

 

 

Edited November 11, 2021 by idanny76

[idanny76]

Problem solved. I needed new tires in the near future, but Sam's Club had a sale on tires with free installation. I went ahead and replaced the tires.... The sound was still there but less. My wife had mentioned to me that she had hit a curb making a turn and scraped the wheel and said it was loud. I had read online that hitting a curb or a driving over many pot holes on the road could damage the wheel bearings. The reason I did not think it was that incident... it was because that rear wheel was silent when I did the spin test and it had no play.

 

Days later the sound became more pronounced and I could hear it coming from the rear tire where my wife had hit the curb. I decided to take a chance and ordered two Timken rear wheel bearing, which came with the hub as one unit. It was very easy to replace following a YouTube video. When I removed the wheel hub assembly.... the inner part of the wheel bearing was stuck to the Axel. My guess was that the impact on the curb damaged and separated the wheel bearing. I was able to remove the other half and replace the other side too. Noise is gone and now its a quiet ride.

 

The reason why the damaged wheel bearing was not making an audible noise when I tested it...... it was because it did not have the full weight of the vehicle and it was also louder at higher speeds. Conclusion, sometimes bad wheel bearings may not have play or make a sound..... which can make it difficult to diagnose.  The weight of the vehicle will make the sound louder and may be the only way to narrow the side that has a bad bearing.