Re: Crunching/growling sound

I have a very nasty crunching/grinding/growling sound coming from (I think) the right rear wheel. Half shaft was replaced with rebuilt unit about 2k miles back because of torn boot. I would welcome thoughts about how to determine if it's a wheel bearing, CV joint or something else. The noise is always present when I first hit the road and seems to disappear at speed. It is very apparent at very low speeds like 5-10MPH.

Wheel bearings usually begin as a moan or whine. A crunch worries me. I would raise the car and begin to poke around. If you don't feel comfortable poking around, hire someone who does.

Obviously the coincidence to the replacement is worth keeping in mind.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

Louder when turning away from the bad bearing, quieter when turning towards it.

I think you'd be deaf from the noise at higher speeds if the bearing even lasted any time at all at higher speeds.

I'd be more inclined to think that the noise is coming from a brake: Something's caught between the rotor/splash shield or perhaps a pad has suffered some mechanical failure.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

I'm hearing similar from right rear wheel (MY 02S). Mine is a crirp/whine sound and also at 5>10mph and disappears upon acceleration.
I 1st thought it may be the constant velocity bearing. After reading this thread I learn it may be the wheel bearing itself. I'll inspect the brake for possible bent shield or stone hung up. I really doubt it's coming from brake. Any more info/opinions or experience on this much appreciated. Thanks!

Yrs ago I had crunching/grinding sound. Was definitely a stone or shard of metal in the composite of the brake pad scraping on the rotor. I cleared it by running up to high speed and braking hard...repeated 3X. A friend called this an "Italian tuneup".

Thanks to you all for your suggestions. After checking everything possible on the outside I broke down and pulled the wheel apart.
What I found was that the wheel bearing was loose on the hub. To be more precise, one half of the bearing was still in the pressed-on condition and the other half had loosened and worn the hub diameter down by -I'm guessing here- something on the order of .5mm resulting in nice knurled effect! Apparently it was not spinning freely but just intermittently, which accounts for the intermittent nature of the growling. A new hub and bearing are on the way from Suncoast so I'm just a few bashed knuckles away from being back in business.

failing outright. Glad you got to it before it did that.

Sincerely,

MarcW.