Wheel Bearings

[ZephyrEFI]

Alright, I'll start with the whole story, but if you want to skip that and get to what the problem is, you can avoid the first paragraph.

So this past season or so, i rebuilt my brakes front to back. I went from '99-04 GT front brakes and SVO rears to '94-98 GT all around. My old brakes were always causing me problems and would often stick and get really hot. As part of that surgery, i put new wheel bearings and new (used) axles in the rear (which were needed because of the different style brakes). in the front i replaced everything except the rotors since both styles use the same size rotors. I had a feeling they might be glazed and warped because of the heat. I also brush painted on this rust encapsulator on the spindles so it would look a little nicer in there and they would last longer.

I went to drive the car for the first time since completing all that, and there was this horrendous noise and the rotors were catching every so often, indicating they were warped. So, i replaced the front rotors with new and tried again. The noise developed into a growl like a bad wheel bearing. So this is my question. Do you think my front wheel bearings (they are the sealed SN95 type) got too hot when the brakes were sticking and are now bad? Or could it be that the rust encapsulator worked its way down into the bearings and ruined them? The last possibility I can think of is something wrong with the rear axle. I know there is fluid in it, but say if there wasn't enough and the rear wheel bearings ran dry for a very short time would they start to make a loud growl so quickly? I really didn't drive very far. 1/2 mile at the most.

The noise is only when moving. Like a bad wheel bearing.

[mustangxtreme]

Brad, put the car up on jack stands and spin the wheels to try and locate the noise. Once you have an idea where it is coming from you can pull the wheels and try to locate any odd wear patterns. I doubt driving 1/2 mile killed a bearing.

[Haystack]

My sister borrowed my crownvic one winter and bent an axle on a curb. A new wheel bearing lasted 5-10k before making bad noises. It was obvious it was bent when running the car in gear on stands.

Get timken bearings. Auto parts store cheapies would fail in minutes, greased or not. Had one car that blew a wheelbearing apart on a pothole on New years. Installed it dry so they didnt tow my car and forgot all about it.

[wraithracing]

I agree with Dave above in regards to determining which wheel is making the noise.

As for the SN95 hub bearings, they do go bad and could be the issue. They are more expensive than regular Fox bearings, but they do work really well and luckily they have come down in price over the years. If the Rust encapsulator leaked down into the SN95 bearings then the bearings weren't sealed and you had or were going to have other issues anyway, so I doubt that is the problem.

As for the rear bearings, I doubt you would cause an issue with one in just 1/2 mile. I always lube mine up with bearing grease when installing to prevent dry running on the bearing. You stated the axles are used, is it possible the axles are worn on the bearing surface and causing the noise?

Determine where the noise is coming from and go from there would be my advice. Good Luck!

[ZephyrEFI]

Thanks all. Man, i hope it's the fronts. I would hope i would've noticed it if the bearing surface on the axles was in bad shape.

[wraithracing]

Thanks all. Man, i hope it's the fronts. I would hope i would've noticed it if the bearing surface on the axles was in bad shape.

Hopefully so, but I have even had an axle or two that didn't look that bad, but still the surface was rough enough to cause a terrible noise. Usually axle saver bearings can be used to solve the problem. Good Luck!

[ZephyrEFI]

The question may have been answered. I really hope this is all that's wrong.

http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...30#post1848130

But i did raise and spin up the back wheels by putting the car in gear, and no noises came from back there. So THAT'S good. I just think i might've messed up a wheel bearing with what happened in the link!

[Haystack]

One thing i tell people, if you can't figure out where the noise is, wait for it to get so bad you cant ignore it, or maybe it will go away all on its own.