symptons of a bad wheel bearing?

[mckinney_noel]

i have 97 altima.. front end has roaring in tire area.iv jacked front end up and checked tires for movement.it is tight.can i have bad bearing and still have no movement in tires to indicate it? thanks

[methodmix]

Yes, it can still be bad, or at least going bad. What you want to do is rotate the tire by hand, but to do this you need to first jack that tire up in the air once again. Engage the transmission in neutral and rotate the tire, but make sure the Emergency brake is engaged to lock the rear tires into place; in addition to the E-brake, a couple of tire wedges might be worth having for the rear tires to prevent rolling.

It's funny because I just did this the other day, and the problem with the front tires is that the brake calipers tend to provide some surface friction so you really have to put some initial brute force to get the wheel spinning. If you can hear any sounds other than the brake pads slightly touching the rotors, then it's a bad bearing. As a sanity check, do this to the rear wheels also (with the rear wheels, move the transmission from neutral to Park, and disengage the emergency brake); the rear wheels should move more freely since these utilize drum brakes (hence, a good bearing on the rear wheels should mean a silence during wheel rotation).

Good Luck!

[mckinney_noel]

i did this to the fron end cause that is were sound is coming from.when i spin it there is no sound,but when i drive 45 and higher i hear roaoring.i roted tires and problem still in front.surly i dont have 4 bad tires.i got front end alignd. no help with roar.its a constant roar,telling me its prolly not warped rotor.that would be intermitted roar. any help?

[methodmix]

Are you 100% sure it's from the front end? I had a similar problem with my car, loud roaring noise between 30-45 mph (it got drowned out by the wind noise beyond 50 mph). It was so loud that I also speculated that it was originating from the front-end, and after checking all 4 wheels I discovered that it was a bad rear wheel bearing. The good news is that the rear bearings are 10 times easier to replace than the front ones. I would suggest checking the rear just be on the safe side. It shouldn't take very long to check.

Let me know how it goes!

[mckinney_noel]

ill check back ones....hopfully itl be back ones....was your car a nissan?

[methodmix]

Yes, I have a 2000 Altima GLE.

[mckinney_noel]

koool.mine 97 gxe altima..once i get roaring fixed my next issue is service light is on...code was for knock sensor.iv seen on ebay for 45 bucks...lord , at advance they 125..so..to check my rear bearings,,,just jack rear up, and spin wheel? do i have to put in neautral? thanks...

[methodmix]

I have a Haynes manual so I could take a look at it info about the knock sensor, but not until later.

Yes, jack the rear up, don't put the tranny in neutral since this has no impact on the rear wheels (you have front wheel drive). I'm assuming you have an automatic transmission, so just keep the shifter in the "Park" setting. Also make sure you are on level ground prior to doing this. Also to be safe, get some wheel stops (wedges) for your front tires.

Just spin the wheel in the normal direction of rotation; the rear wheels should spin easier since they utilize drum brakes. Gradually increase the speed of rotation and listen for an increase in noise level; if the noise gets louder, you need to replace your bearing.

[mckinney_noel]

thanks for help...i checked back tires...they both spun very good with out any noise..i had a mechanic ride with me and he said it sounded like bad bearing in front..but i got 1 q. when i jacked front up and spun wheels in nuetral,both had no noise....u think it could still be bad.afterall, the sound doesnt start until i go about 35 and higher. and its a constatnt sound.. thanks noel

[methodmix]

Interesting. I remember reading about how you recently got an alignment done. I'm not sure how bad your alignment was previously, but if it was out of alignment for a good while, it could have caused an uneven treadwear pattern on 1 or a couple of your tires. Uneven treadwear, even after your alignment is fixed, could still produce a loud noise at highway speeds. Have you already checked for this?

[mckinney_noel]

welll the tires have very good tread left on them...there is no cupping or obvoius tire were... maybe a slight bit on the outher side of em...but like i said i rotated em twice . with all noise still coming from the front...kinda hard to belive all 4 are bad..im now trying to find sum one with 15 inche tireas and rims i can put on front of car to see if it is problem.i hate to but new tiers and it not it..lol thanks for help

[methodmix]

It could still be possible that one of your front bearings is bad. I know you mentioned that the noise is not apparent until you have reached at least 35 mph. As you probably noticed, it's harder to spin the front tires because the brake calipers apply slightly pressure to the discs which adds just enough friction to make it difficult for you to rotate by hand; this means that you likely won't be able to rotate the tire fast enough to hear the noise generated by your "bad" bearing.

If in fact it is a bad front bearing, the next step is to figure out which side is bad. Find an empty parking lot where you can travel around 35mph and be able to make sharp turns without hitting anything. If the 'roaring' sound becomes quieter when turning left, then your left bearing is bad, and vice versa; this is because a left turn relieves pressure (due to centrifugal force) off of the left front tire, and vice versa for making right turns. If turning left or right at moderate speeds (~35 mph) doesn't result in the sound getting quieter (which should happen nearly instantaneously), then two problems are possible:
1) both front bearings are bad
2) transmission/differential fluid is low (I've never had this happen to me, but I've heard it can cause a similar noise)

Hopefully some other members can chime in if there is anything that I am missing.

[mckinney_noel]

how do i check if my car has antilock breaks. its 97 altima

[methodmix]

Not sure if this is true for the '97 altima, but for the '00 and '01 altimas, ABS-equipped vehicles have a light somewhere on the instrument panel that says "ABS" or something similar. When putting your keys in the the "ACC" position, you will notice a series of lights on your instrument panel (e.g., Service Engine, Oil, Seatbelt, etc...); if you don't see an ABS light come on during this sequence, then chances are you don't have ABS brakes.

Other than that, it's a matter of physically checking your brake components and that's beyond my expertise. If in doubt, take it to your mechanic for a professional opinion.

If you are really desperate, you could do a physical road test where you are driving at about 30-35 mph and you slam on your breaks. With ABS, you will most likely hear a 'chattering' sound, rather than a continuous 'screeching' sound. Also, if you have ABS and it is working properly, you should feel pulsating feedback into your brake pedal during this experiment; this pulsating sensation in your brake pedal is an indicator that your brakes are not locking.

My current vehicle doesn't have ABS, but my previous vehicle (GMC Jimmy) had it and that's what I'm basing my info on. Hope this helps!