porscheforfun

I think I might have bad wheel bearings. Not sure though. Sounds kinda loud on the road and steering shakes pretty bad when driving high speeds . I have not check the balance on tires yet but they are fairly new. I raised one side of the front of the car and was able to rock the tire slightly back and forth about 1/2" I dont know if this is normal to be able to rock it back and forth. I just bought the car about a month ago , but its only a weekend driver and have not driven it much .
the previous owner had taken it to porsche dealer only for all repairs . Should I cont. to go to dealer only to keep with the records of a dealer so that if I ever sell the car ? Or should I not worry about that and take it to a respectable local porsche shop.

I also heard that if the fronts are bad so are the rears always do all four .

joelesmith

I had a bad wheel bearing - front pass side. It made a loud noise like worn out tires. I was told you could hear it if you raised the front end and rotated the wheel slow, sounded the same as the drivers side. I shook it from top to bottom and side to side, it had no wiggle. After a long drive, the pass side was the same temp as the drivers side. Everything I did felt and sounded the same as the drivers side. It got so loud that I could hear it over the radio. when I took it apart and replaced it it was bad. I think the turbo it is harder to troubleshoot because of the all wheel drive system. If you have a great deal of noise on one side and the brakes aren't rubbing, it's probably the wheel bearing.
Joel

haulinkraut

1/2" of play seems excessive. Is the steering wheel moving when you get this 1/2" movement? If it isn't than you most likely have two problems and the steering wheel vibration at speed is caused by the play. I would suspect a suspension bushing in the control arms, control arms themselves or a tie rod. The road noise can be a couple of things. Too much toe can make excessive tire noise in my experiences and it will get worse as tires wear more. Cupped tires will be noisy at times too, but your tires are new.

Drive the car with the radio and AC off and listen to your car. Engage in some turns that will load your bearingsfrom each direction. A curvy road is best for this obviously. If you have a bad bearing the noise should change when loaded. Were or are any of your wheels curbed? If you have bad wheel bearings and curbed wheels change the bearing at the curbed corners first. This may sound wierd, but curbing wheels can make a marginal or older wheel bearing bad. Curbing a wheel is the equivelant to taking a wheel bearing and clamping it in a vise and hitting the center race with a hammer. Wheel bearings are not designed for side impacts. I learned this from an opld crusty mechanic that forgot more about fixing cars than I will ever know and it has always steered me right.

porscheforfun

The steering wheel does not move when I rock the front back and forth

Mikelly

In general, because every steering column lock has varying amounts of play, you really should check the bearing by grabbing the top and bottom of the tire (car jacked up) and push in and out to see if you have play in that wheel bearing... Putting your hands at 9-3 won'd give you as accurate a "feel".

Mike

haulinkraut

Good call. A wheel bearing can become loose and sloppy. If they are that worn spinning the tire will probably show the cards too.

Dock

Here is how my bad front wheel bearing sounded:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2Bt9Pdxsc0

PorscheDoc

The sealed wheel bearings in these cars will not display an amount of play like a traditional 2 piece wheel bearing of years past. You will hear a growling in the wheel, instead of play in the wheel.

joelesmith

especially when they are torqued down to 340 ft/lbs.

PAULUNM

If you think you have a bad wheel bearing, you probably do.

I had a bad one, which was missed by a mechanic because you can't feel it when you turn the wheel by hand.

If you tires are new, and you have what sounds like tire noise- I bet the bearings are bad. They go bad so often on these cars , especially in the front- might as well have them replaced.

My $0.02

Guybrush Wilkinson

I used to work in sales of used cars for a local Toyota dealer. At the time I tested the wheel bearings by letting the car slide on neutral (appr 40 mph) and steering from side to side. With Japanese cars it was very easy to hear from sound if a bearing was bad. The sound got louder when turning and vanished when turning to the other direction.

Mikelly

Doc, that's good to know... I'd been told to check them like "traditional" bearings by a tech inspector at a PCA event and assumed he knew what he was talking about.

By the way, my "bad" wheel bearing sounds just like the video DOCK posted above. Since I've not done one before, the car is in the trailer and being taken to my local indy on Wednesday for it to be replaced... Mine is much more intermittant and goes away under braking...SO I'm assuming I caught it at the "early" stage. Probably will have both done and the seals in the front calipers replaced while we're at it.

Mike

Macster

That's my info as well.

My 02 Boxster got noisy and after new tires (Pirelli tires are good tires but they make a heck of a racket when they get worn/old!) the indy shop manager told me he thought the car had a bad wheel bearing. But he couldn't pinpoint the wheel bearing from the sound and there was apparently no other way.

I had suspected as much as well but with the noisy tires I wasn't sure.

We both were pretty sure it was a rear wheel but couldn't decide upon which one. I said 'replace both' and he said 'expensive'. Ok I took the car out for a test drive and came back and told him to replace the left rear. My risk. He replaced that bearing and that was the bad bearing.

But noise was all we had to go on.

Oh, the other wheel bearings were just fine and that was over 140K miles ago. So based on my Boxster experience (which is contrary to that of other cars) if one wheel bearing's bad replace it but unless the other side or another one's noisy leave them in service.

Sincerely,

Macster.

porscheforfun

I think I will do a few more test to see if the bearings are bad . I got a quote from dealer parts and labor for $800.00 for the front bearings .they told me about a 6 hr. Job

Mikelly

Mine is at the shop as of this afternoon... I don't expect it to be done before next week, since Paul is slammed, but it's there if he gets freed up from the other work ahead of me... Haven't driven the car since May, so I'm chomping to get it back and start driving it again!!

Mike