What are the symptoms of a bad wheel bearing?

What is a wheel bearing?

A wheel bearing is one of the multiple mechanical parts that you can find behind your car rims. It’s the one that takes care of providing the car with proper, and smooth, rolling on the road. This rolling would create an incredible amount of heat if the wheel bearing did not exist. 

How does a wheel bearing work?

It’s quite simple actually, to make it easy, imagine 2 rings, one bigger than the other, then you put one inside the other and you insert multiple mini steel balls in between them. Now you hold the inner ring still, the other one will be able to move as it would roll thanks to the mini steel balls.

Signs of a bad wheel bearing

How to diagnose a bad wheel bearing while driving?

We are now going to take a look into which symptoms we need to be aware of when driving to be able to recognize when a wheel bearing has expired:

1. Noise. This is the most obvious one. If the wheel bearing is in bad shape, we will hear a grinding sound regardless of the speed we are driving at. The noise will speed up at the same rhythm that the car does and it gets louder or quieter when cornering, depending on whether the cornering inner or outer wheel bearing is defective. If you hear this, chances are you have a bad wheel bearing.
2. Car looseness. This one is also very clear and logical, the bearing is allocated between mechanisms that work very tight, if the bearing gets worn out, then, all the systems will get loose and you will feel the car.
3. Heat. If the car wheel bearing is worn out, it will obviously not be able to work correctly, therefore, friction will cause a very intense heat that will be flagrant when we drive our car to a stop.
4. Steering wheel pulling. Also, this friction we were talking about before causes one worn-out bearing wheel to roll braked. This will cause the car to slowly pull towards the side without you trying to do so.

How to check a wheel bearing

Apart from the signs that can make us aware of a worn-out car wheel bearing (grinding noise, car looseness, heat on the wheel, and steering wheel pulling), there is a very easy action anyone can do at home to see if there is a broken wheel bearing on our car. The step is to lift the car with a jack to leave one wheel in the air then we can move the wheel and check for grinding noise or excessive spinning resistance. But even if it’s easy, this action can only be correctly done on the axis contrary to propulsion. The differential will make it harder to proceed with this action. 

Therefore, the best and most recommended way to check the wheel bearings is to have a professional check it for you, they will have the necessary knowledge and equipment to do it correctly.

When does a wheel bearing need to be replaced?

If the wheel bearing is not working as it should, changing it is a must. 

A common doubt at this point is if when one wheel bearing breaks down, do we need to change the other, but that is not mandatory.  If the wheel bearing is breaking down in its early life, changing that single bearing is ok, as the reason is very likely not related to the other wheel bearing.  But, if our car has a good quantity of miles on the clock, then it would be recommended to check the other wheel bearing. They have the same amount of miles upon them as the one that is breaking down and their state may be similar.

When replacing your wheel bearings, it is necessary to look for high-quality parts. The SKF Vehicle Aftermarket offers a complete range of wheel bearings kits for maximum performance and durability. Kits include any nuts, bolts, or screws necessary to carry out a complete repair.

FAQS

Can I drive with a bad wheel bearing?

No, it can be very dangerous. The bearings can cause a severe problem if they malfunction. As we said before, extreme heat can be caused by friction, and this can cause a sudden seize of the bearing, causing the wheel to get blocked at whatever speed we are driving at that moment.  There is a risk of an accident if we don’t take care of this issue.

How many miles can you drive on a bad wheel bearing? 

The lesser, the better. As we said before, this issue can lead to a very dangerous situation. If it’s unavoidable, the most  appropriate way to do so is to drive as slow as possible to minimize the friction.

Should I change the seal?

Bearings are very simple but, they have a lot of moving parts inside. Add all these moving parts to a high speed of the wheel and you will have an inherent problem, heat caused by friction. To solve this problem, the bearings are completely greased inside and to avoid any kind of contamination to enter the bearing, the seals come into the equation. If a seal gets worn, water, dust or salt can go in causing a fast wearing of the wheel bearing.