Resolved 1G Wheel bearing bad?

[90rexzc]

Well I thought my front wheel bearing was bad on my 90 TSi AWD but I did some searching and the symptoms for the wheel bearing don't sound right. My wheel has quite a bit of in and out play when the cars in the air but I don't get any grinding noise when I spin it. What else could cause this?

 

[TRBOBLU]

Well I thought my front wheel bearing was bad on my 90 TSi AWD but I did some searching and the symptoms for the wheel bearing don't sound right. My wheel has quite a bit of in and out play when the cars in the air but I don't get any grinding noise when I spin it. What else could cause this?

Have you checked ball joints? Bad ball joints will lead to excessive wheel play. Wheel bearings can do the same thing too. I bought a brand new wheel bearing from Mitsubishi and it had a lot of play in it. Best thing to do is jack the car up, have someone shake the wheel while you look to see what moves.

 

[dewdew]

You need to jack the car up by the body and let the suspension hang. This will unload the lower ball joint and allow you to check for play. If you can wiggle the wheel up and down only, it is most likely wheel bearing (look for play at this joint.) If you can wiggle it left to right only it is most likely an inner or outer tie rod. If you feel play in any direction (up, down, left, right, diagonal,) it is most likely a bad wheel bearing. You may not be able to hear a grinding noise when just spinning the wheel in the air because there is no load on the bearing. They usually make a growling sound when driving and will get louder when turning one way and quieter when turning the other because the bearing is being loaded/unloaded.

 

[90rexzc]

OK. then it does sound like a wheel bearing. maybe I just cant hear the growling over the exhaust. Thanks for the reassurance.