Front Wheel Bearing, or what is my noise

[beiland]

2001 Aurora


I was just recently driving back south from DC on #95 when I began to hear this humming sound coming from the front of my vehicle. I stopped and checked all fluids, belt, etc but could not detect any unusual engine noise at idle. Back on the road and noise begins at 30mph plus. Steered hard right, then hard left, no changes in noise. Only increasing noise with speed. If its a wheel bearing I'm thinking it should change tone/intensity with loading one-way-or-the-other. It does not. I try extreme turns at low speed, thinking it might be a CV joint. No noise.

Finally stopped in southern NC at a nice tire/car repair shop, and service manger takes it for a ride,...says it has to be driver's side front wheel bearing. They replace it (MECACC, P001), and he takes it on checked run. Then tells me it still has a slight noise, but problem is fixed.

I'm back on #95 headed south and the noise comes back, maybe only slightly less than original. I'm not happy, but I continue on home to St Augustine Fl. I make it, but with noise all the way. I'm beginning to think they fixed the wrong part??

Now I read that there are 'not so good new parts' out there?? How complicated can a wheel bearing be,....they are usually either good or bad ?? (I did bring the old part home with me)

So yesterday (before I am going to visit another unknown repair shop) I jack the front end up and try rotating the front wheels by hand to see if I can detect any unusual noises or resistance?...no noises, but driver's side tire (the one that was repaired) does seem to have more resistance to turning. Could there be an error in the installation?...perhaps tightened to much??

I then turn on the motor and run the wheels up a little in speed,...no noticeable noise. I jam one wheel from turning and other one turns faster. I then release that one and jam the drivers wheel, and same reaction. but when I release the drivers wheel it does not recover its speed as did the other side. In fact it remains just barely turning. I am now highly suspicious that the drivers side is experiencing a LOT more resistance to rotating than the other side,....and this may be my continued noise up front.

Any more suggestions as to test I might run, before consulting another car repair shop?
Any suggestions of reliable auto repair around St Augustine Florida? (new to this area)

[wfooshee]

Brake piston can cause something like that. If the piston doesn't release fully when the brakes are released you have some small amount of pressure remaining on the rotor. If strong enough the brakes get hot enough to smell, and they'll fade, but it can be slight enough to simply have a little bit more drag than another wheel.

I'd check the brakes, both for good pads, and for clean pistons with good seals. If the seals lose the flexibility they are supposed to have, they pressure on the pad doesn't release fully.

I'm not sure this accounts for the noise, but it could account for the wheel friction you're describing.

[Toronado3800]

New bearing might be tighter than a decade old one.

[beiland]

Sorry I added my posting to several discussion of this problem.

I will continue this discussion over here:
aurorah.proboards.com/thread/550/maintenance-body-front-bearing-replacement?page=3&scrollTo=322964