Wheel or Diff Bearing Advice

[ChrisM]

My Wife has a Megane Coupe 1999 car.
It developed a VERY LOUD WARRRRRRRRRRR as she drove it, 1st thing in the morning you could just hear it as she drove it the car warmed up the MMMmmmmmm turned to Warrrrrrrrrrr but disapeared on a left hand bend.

Technician went out and said Passenger front wheel bearing, lifted car rocked wheel and span wheels on both sides and looked a little puzzeled, but stuck with pass/front wheel bearing. basically because it disapeared on a left hand bend.

Wheel bearing changed! noise loud as ever! so they moved on to diff bearings, lifted car up grab wheel run car up to 50mph turn off and put in neautral ??? Yep Diff I was told.

Speaking to old guy in pub who came round next day ran car around block - not convinced on diff bearings, he has been a gearbox jock for donkeys of years he tells me and this does not quite sound gearboxy more wheel bearing, change passenger front - Done it! Ahh he said so we jack up car on driver side? spin wheel and rock it no sound, no movement, which I also said had already been done, makes a hell of a noise he said so you should feel some thing, but having said that these days wheel bearings are such big things now with no space between inner and outer races, he reckoned the inner race on the driver side, as when you corner the weight is off the passenger outer race and on the inner race and driver side weight is off the inner race but on the oute race if you follow me - change driver side bearing!

Driver side now changed - noise gone! a little bit long winded but thought an explination was due so if you have a wheel bearing noise which has not been cured by changeing one side try doing the other. ours was that loud it was above the radio at 40mph - a hell of a noise, which should have been evident in either wheel rock or hum as the wheel was spun but wasn't, so don't dispare and buy a gearbox as I nearly did.

[davelowe]

Interesting. I once had a pug 205GTI bearing go. It went gradually and I had the bits back afterwards for inspection. Nasty little ball bearings had almost taken the outer race out.

[ChrisM]

Yes it is interseting, hope it helps someone else as we where quite close to a new box, well recon box in it to the point of pricing and arranging a fitting for it (days away from the box ordering infact) it was just by sheer luck that this guy over heard a conversation at the bar that we found this out, I would never have thought and more worrying really niether did any of the tecs that looked at it (and there where a few, as I work in a multi-franchise garage) mention the possibility of the driver bearing being duff, so for the sake of £20 it could have cost us £350 + fitting + £20 to sort it out.
Incidentally once pressed out bearing fell apart, inner race had hard crusty grease inside it, where as the passenger bearing which also fell apart after the press the grease looked normal if you know what I mean.
I also noticed the hub/driveshaft where bone dry and quite rusty all the bolts around the hub and disc where VERY difficult to remove, as if the hub had been heating up, very differant from the passenger side, really hard work to dissmantle, I thought it would be eaiser as the drive shaft was changed only 12 months earlier, just goes to show sometihng was happening on that side.

[megane:(]

Thank you so so much. The extremely loud HHHHUUUMMMMMMM in my car has had me baffled for ages!! I even paid £170 to get the exhaust replaced thinking it was that!! Do you know roughly how much it costs to have the wheel bearings fitted at a garage??

[ChrisM]

Sorry no idea, they are quit simple to get at, but you will need a press to press em out, I paid £25 per bearing for the bearing. I took off the hub and took it into work where we have a press. It would cost you a lot less if you could get the hub off yourself it is not that hard, at a guess you would probbaly get charged around 3.5/4 hrs per side at a garage.
I can tell you how to get it off if you want to have a go.

[THEBIGYINDARTS]

Really glad i read this article as my 07 megane has started making this noise although must admit tech who looked at it for me did suggest it was a bearing although he couldn't hear it when it was spun.