Hey guys new member (lurker) here, 01 TL owned since new, 180k miles.

Back in Nov. I had a blow-out, hit a wheel/tire lying in the middle of the road at 70 mph, blew-out drivers side front tire (which were only 3k miles old).

Fast forward a few months to Feb., drivers side front wheel bearing goes bad. Between Nov-Jan, no noises (squeaks) from front end at all. Towards the end of Feb. I find time to take the knuckle out of the car and have a local shop press in a new bearing for me. Reassemble and test drive, squeak squeak squeak squeak. Take apart again, check rotors, pads, brake shield, everything... and put back together, squeak still there.

1. I know the ball joints are worn, I will replace those soon.
2. Squeaking frequency increases/decreases with vehicle speed (ie the faster I drive, the faster the squeak occurs). Seems a squeak occurs with each wheel rotation?
3. Turning steering wheel right while driving, continues to squeak.
4. Turning steering wheel LEFT while driving, squeak STOPS.
5. Braking while driving at any speed, squeak STOPS.

Any ideas? Defective wheel-bearing? Shop screwed up wheel-bearing/hub job somehow?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions,
Eli

 

At 180k, it could be alot of different things and may be just a coincidence.
But, if ya bought a quality brand of wheel bearing and trust the shop that pressed it for ya......the wb is hardly the problem.

Ya should've replaced the lower BJ while the knuckle was removed.
As far as the squeak goes, check the upper BJ and also inspect the brake rotor's rear deflector.

 

Thanks 3.2,

The bearing is Timken, and I'm inclined to agree the bearing isn't the problem. I'll get both ball joints replaced asap, but the squeak seems related to wheel rotation, which makes me think brakes/hub/bearing/or axle problem.

Hoping someone has had this noise before...

 

If it wasn't doing this previously, chances are that it may be something that occurred during reassembly. Double-check the brake caliper pads and try cleaning or lubing the pad's contact points.

 

Yeah I'm also inclined to agree that I caused this somehow during reassembly. I'll triple check the brakes and dust cover.

 

check your lower control arm bushings.

 

I had a problem that sounds to be what you are describing. It turned out that it was the half shaft bearing (#22). The way I found out was I jacked up the front of my car to get the tires off of the ground, put it on jack stands and then put the E-brake on and put the car in D5. I then had a buddy slowly press/let off the gas. I crawled under the vehicle in order to look and I was able to pinpoint where the noise was coming from. Which, like i stated previously, was the half-shaft bearing.