'89 LeSabre growling sound

[prginocx]

Doesn't seem to be related to either 4th or 3rd gear in the tranny. Starts about 45mph and gets worse up to 55. Slight improvement at 55 but still annoying up to 65 and beyond. At 45 vibration is very loud inside the cabin. Can't hear the radio.

I did check the CV Boots, they are OK. Car has only 94k miles. Seems to be coming from the front part of the car. Definitely follows the speed of the chassis and NOT the rpm of the motor. Happens hot and cold.

What can I check ? Difficult to duplicate this problem in my Garage !!

[chevelleman]

is it more of a vibration or a growling sound like sometimes if you have a tire that is out of round there will be certain speeds where it will quiet down and certain speeds where it will get really bad you could try to rotate your tires front to rear to see if the problem changes any then you could rule out the tires

but if its more of a growling and a vibration it could be your hub bearings on either the right or the left front of the vehicle if it is that its not too bad of a job to do yourself you shouldn't need to bring it in if you have some tools and willing to get dirty let me know i could do a little run down on how to do it if you need me to

[prginocx]

It was the wheel bearings. I just started a new job w/lots of overtime so I had it done at Cottman's Transmissions. Not too bad, about $400 total and it was done in 5 hours.

Easy way to troubleshoot the problem is drive on long sweeping curves at the higher speeds. Curve one way sound is bad, curve the other way sound almost goes away. For sure the wheel bearing on the opposite side is bad, and it sounds better when the weight is less on those long curves.