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2G Wheel bearing or something else

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cola

10+ Year Contributor
163
3
Feb 24, 2011
Chicago, Illinois
Put the car on jackstands, pushed and pulled on all the wheels in both directions and cannot find which wheel bearing is bad. Getting all the classic symptoms of a wheel bearing failing and its slowly getting worse-

Vibrations at high speeds
Makes a spinning whirly sound
turns feel funny/loose

-but- I also have a 'popping' sound on right turns...which is getting worse everytime I drive it.
and a slight grind accelerating at low rpms but im pretty sure thats just a worn out mount.

Since I cant find any play in the bearing/tie rods im at a loss now. Control arms front/rear feel solid, no boots are broken anywhere...any suggestions on how to find the problem?
 
try to jack the car up so the wheels are off the ground and put jack stands to support the car on all 4 sides then run the car until you hear the noise have another person go to each wheel and listen to hear which one is making noise.if its a wheel bearing you will hear it. sometimes you may need a stethoscope or a long screwdriver will work . you can touch one end of the screwdriver on the back of the spindle and the other end you hold it to your ear .
 
OP has a 95, so you have to ask THE question: has the ball-joint recall been done?

That and.....

If you want to find out if it is a bearing take it for a drive. Get up to speed, and swerve back and forth on the road.

If the noise gets loud when you swerve to the left then it is the right bearing. If it gets loud when you swerve to the right then it's the left bearing. It does this because when you swerve more load is put on the bearings.

It's a easy way to check.
 
If you want to find out if it is a bearing take it for a drive. Get up to speed, and swerve back and forth on the road.

Are you freaking kidding? You suspect a wheel bearing or ball joint and you advise taking the car up to speed before weaving back and forth? Com'on. Think about that. Or are you interested in his girl-friend?

To be clear: you can do the weaving back-and-forth test at 10 mph in first.
 
Are you freaking kidding? You suspect a wheel bearing or ball joint and you advise taking the car up to speed before weaving back and forth? Com'on. Think about that. Or are you interested in his girl-friend?

To be clear: you can do the weaving back-and-forth test at 10 mph in first.

No, I am not freaking kidding.

Well, I'll add this. I'm not telling him to go do a slalom at 55 MPH. Guess I should have clarified that a little.

But doing 30 mph and swerving a little is not going to hurt the car.
 
OK. Cool. But I needed to say something because some people might have read what you wrote as suggesting a test at 55 or 65 mph. Keep in mind your audience. And keep in mind that the speed of the car doesn't matter to these tests; all that matters is lateral loading.

To be clear: my concern is that the test, itself, will cause a failure. Better to have a front wheel fall off at 10 mph than 65 mph.
 
OK. Cool. But I needed to say something because some people might have read what you wrote as suggesting a test at 55 or 65 mph. Keep in mind your audience. And keep in mind that the speed of the car doesn't matter to these tests; all that matters is lateral loading.

To be clear: my concern is that the test, itself, will cause a failure. Better to have a front wheel fall off at 10 mph than 65 mph.

True, I didn't mean to have someone swerving like a maniac down the freeway.
 
you can also get all the wheels of the ground and get all the wheels spinning and grab the spring to feel for a substance vibration if the hub is worn to the point of noise any audible noise should translate in to vibration in the springs
 
Here is my opinon. A poping noise while going over bumps stearing and suspension. A growling noise that when driving gets louder the faster u go and dissapates when u slow down,axel,tire,or brakes. A poping noise while driving on a smooth and turning, inner and outer tirods,ball joint or joints,axel.
 
^^^do this but you can just spin the wheels with your hand and see which one vibrates the spring more. This is what I do at my shop.
 
I like to pull the brake calipers and rotor and spin the hub by hand. You can get a pretty good idea the condition of the bearing by doing this.
 
Here is my opinon. A poping noise while going over bumps stearing and suspension. A growling noise that when driving gets louder the faster u go and dissapates when u slow down,axel,tire,or brakes. A poping noise while driving on a smooth and turning, inner and outer tirods,ball joint or joints,axel.

As rules of thumbs go, the above is good. It's way better than the page of pompous, technical, look-at-me-I'm-so-smart crap that I would have written.
 
That and.....

If you want to find out if it is a bearing take it for a drive. Get up to speed, and swerve back and forth on the road.


It's a easy way to check.

sorry just got back to this and started cracking up this made my day

As far as I know the ball joint recall has not been done, I don't even want to walk into a stealership ive never had a good experience.
 
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I have a new front end kit, I just didnt see any damage so I didnt replace it. This weekend I think im just going to install the whole kit. If that doesnt take care of the problem I might just have to richard prior the car
 
Coming from someone that repairs vehicles for a living, the above test mentioned for wheel bearing/hub bearing failure is accurate. If the unit has excessive end play, a change in pitch will be noticed when transferring the weight of the vehicle from side to side. The popping concern however could be an axleshaft, balljoint, or even a stabilizer end-link.

As far as your vibration is concerned, I suggest you check the driveshaft carrier bearing and u-joints.

edit: Make sure your transfercase has fluid in it, LOL.
 
update- The popping does seem to be the stabilizer end link as I found earlier. The stealership says all the recalls have been done so thats that.

I put the stock wheels on and the noise that sounds like a wheel bearing is now exaggerated. The side to side test didnt reveal anything to me it feels solid on both ends. Also after the change if I turn the wheel at a dead stop it sounds awful like its rubbing on something..Im starting to think tie rods

Ill change the tcase oil see what happens.
 
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