loud noise and vibration

[jimbob-mcgrew]

yo :)
i was after some help if any1 can shed some light on the area.

ive got a 1.2 merit 3 door, its nothing special, but it does the job.
anyway, over the last 2 months say, theres been a loud groaning/grinding noise coming from the front end, thats been getting gradually louder and louder. it used to come in at about 50 mph, but as its gotten worse it starts at about 15 mph now, and is seriously loud at about 35/40 mph, loud as in attracting attention everywhere i go, :eek: which cant be good for the car.

i changed the OS c.v boot on it a little bit before i started to notice any problems, so i thought the c.v joint might have been knakered thru fault of my own, and as a m8 of mine had driveshafts out of his 1.4 and wasnt using them.. i swapped them with mine to see if it would cure the problem, no change unfortunatly. another thing im suspect of is the OSF wheel bearing, cos when i was putting it all back together after i worked on it origionaly, i didnt realise the hub nut needed slackening off atleast once to make sure it was seated correctly, but as far as i can tell, theres no wobble coming from either side, is it possible for the bearing to wear internally without any sign of play from the wheel to indicate its appending death ?

dont know if it has any relation to my prob, but a couple of months before i started to notice any probs i fitted some alloys that i got of a m8, think there from a mk2 astra gte, so offset wouldnt be a problem, but they are quite weighty, so i was thinking they might have put more stress on the bearings/other components ?

only other option i can think of is that it may be gearbox related, but the loud drone/vibration seems to stop when im turning a hard left, and i would have thought if it was gearbox related it would have something to do with revs rather than speed, but im no einstein so im not sure, could be something simple that ive overlooked. :tard:

cant afford to start changing parts here and there untill its fixed so i thought id seek help from you guys, cheers. :thumb:

[Asa-James]

i'd be tempted to go for n/s wheel bearing, does the noise get louder if you turn hard right?

[nathan.]

Yes, you can have a fooked wheel bearing with no play. Sounds like a bearing.

[jimbob-mcgrew]

cheers for such quick replys lads, reckon its a bearing eh, NS possibly.

difficult to say if it gets louder turning right, it doesnt get any better tho thats for sure.

[nathan.]

jack up your front end and spin your wheels up. if its that bad you'll hear a grinding noise.

If it gets worse when turning right then yes i agree, that would mean the N/S/F bearing is faulty.

[jimbob-mcgrew]

think im gonna give it the go ahead on the NS bearing, been reading thru the haynes manual, goes on about hub pullers or plates using the wheel nuts ? wtf ?

dunno how much hub pullers are, but i doubt i can afford one, is there any 'jim 'l fix it' way of doing this.. i dont really understand what its saying in the book, i thought the hub was one piece.. does it break into two or something ? more than a 3 spanner job imo, stop laughing, im not entirely useless, lol.

[Adam]

No you cant really do a front bearing diy tbh.
You need a hydraulic press.

Best taking the hub to a garage and getting them to press the new bearing in for you.

[nathan.]

Yeah agreed with Adam. Strip it down and take the hub to a garage.

I made a threaded puller to do mine. Works a treat, but i'm not gonna confuse you how to make one. lol

[jimbob-mcgrew]

cheers guys, yeh deffo best plan of action.

was gonna do it today actually, had a chat with a back street mechanic, which was cool about doing it there and then, so i parked my car round the corner and stripped it down and returned to the garage 20 mins later with the hub and a fresh bearing in hand, only for him to say "oh i didnt realise u wanted it doing today - your gonna have to come back tommora"
and im left there like ... speechless .. after hassling about on the roadside for no fkin reason, so i said "ah..." and stressfully exhaled, and after a bit of.. well pointless blabber between the both of us i we arranged another meeting for tommora morning, but this time im gonna treble check he aint gonna fcuk me over and if he does im gonna tell him to get fcuked and do somet lawless probably.... anyway, lol sorry about that, unloading all this crap on you guys, cheers for your help basically, i know what the prob is now and im on the case.

[jimbob-mcgrew]

right, so i went back the following day and all went smooth, there quite a good bunch at the garage actually, had a chat with a few of them there, prety sound guys, must have been a mis-understanding in communication first time round. changed the bearing for me for a tenner, which is a fair enuff price.

slight prob tho.. ive changed the NS bearing as planned and its still making a racket on the noise side with vibration still, so im thinkin now it might have been the OS ... 'fook' springs to mind ... so i guess ill have to wait till i can save another ?30 and do the same procedure on the OS, if its still doing it then.. ppftt.. i dunno, in desperation ill probably change the gearbox with one a friend has to see if it does anything.

[Tidy Max]

im having exactly the same problem, have you resolved it yet mate?

[AlexW]

Asked to post this to help you out:

jimbob: im banned for a few days so my minion will explain lol. after changing the NSF bearing, the driveshafts, tightening the rear hub nuts and changing the gearbox, it turned out to be the OSF bearing, i picked up a replacement hub for a tenner off timmy on here with a decent bearing it, sorted the prob out. Upon inspection, i couldnt tell it was the bearing untill i had the hub off the car and spun it round without pressure from the driveshaft on it, sounded and felt ok untill then, but could deffo tell it was shagged when it was off the car. good luck with yours.

[Tidy Max]

thanks mate, after jacking my car up last nite and doing some serious wheel shaking and spinning, i though my osf bearing had gone too, glad to hear that this is most likely the problem!! now i just need some time to get it fixed haha, cheers pal