92 Jetta front end noise

[MadDogDoyle]

My Jetta makes a loud humming rythmic front end noise when driving. It gets louder as I go faster and seems worse when turning right than left. I'm hoping it isn't the wheel bearings because Firestone said 500.00 to replace those since they have to be pressed in. Any other ideas? Is it possible to do the front bearings myself?

[Doug Tatham]

I've replaced the bearings. You have to heat it with a torch then press the bearings out with a vise. Without the right tools, it will take you a couple hours at least. Before you start replacing the bearings, have your brakes checked out by midas or someone that doesn't do wheel bearings. Have your CV joints checked.

[Mightiestmike]

My 92 Jetta does the SAME thing, [your's isn't red by any chance?? ]

I recently had a whole bunch of repairs done and the guy who fixed it supposedly worked on the bearings, he says the noise is the differential and I should just turn up the radio cause the differential isn't worth fixing, but my friends older brother is quite certain it is wheel bearings.

[yogi_123rd]

My Jetta recently began to make a humming noise when the car was at speed. The pitch of the noise rose and fell with how fast the wheels were rotating and not how fast the engine was running. I couldn't be sure what wheel it was coming from. The problem turned out to be unexpected.

To diagnose, I jacked each front wheel off the ground, one at a time, and started the car in gear. I revved the engine to 3000 rpms and listed for the wheel bearing noise. I heard no unusual noises. That told me the problem lies in the rear tires. I also noticed the pitch of this humming noise would abate when making right turns at speed. This told me the problem is in the right rear wheel as there is less stress on the right bearing when making a right turn. (Less stress = less noise)(The reverse is true for the left side, left turn = less stress).

I took off the bearing cap and brake drum and inspected. There's where I found the problem. I found the conical recess in the brake drum to be slightly chipped (1/2 inch of metal missing toward the inside of the drum) and the wheel bearing seemed to turn rough. Seemed to be metal fatigue. The wheel bearing rides on the solid axle and it turns on the brake drum. The chip was causing the humming noise. Amazing it didn't totally fail.

So for $10, I obtained another brake drum at the junk yard and problem solved. Better than shelling out the $500 to fix something that didn't need fixing.

be rough turning and th