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I was putting the mud flap back on my car today..I noticed that the whole hub is loose. I mean, when I kick the wheel when it's tight, it still jitters in position on the hub (like the whole disc shakes).

WTF's wrong? Note: It causes a strange rubbing noise when I drive a long...and it's not the bearing I don't think, it hasn't done this since today.

Are your lug nuts tight? With alloy wheels, lugs loosen up over time. It's happened to me, for sure.

The nuts are tight...but the disc itself jitters back and forth with the wheel on or off (not in a wheel motion, but in a motion perpendicular to forward/backward wheel motion).

Wheel bearings can be funny like that. Is the whole hub loose or is it the brake disc that's loose? Havve you changed an axle lately? If so, did you stake the nut? Check to see if your axle nut is loose.

Is this a front or rear wheel?

I have the same problem up front, nobody's really responded to my questions...

Except my disc brake is not loose, when I felt it by itself, but the wheel definately makes that loose motion...

It's a rear wheel...and it's just the disc that is loose. I can't feel anything else when I get under there. And, I haven't done any recent work to it. I did however, tap a curb while backing up (not that hard) yesterday. My dad thinks it's wheel bearing, I think it's something else. I think I loosened a bolt when I tapped the curb...I just want to figure out which.

I hate to be bearer of bad news but it sounds like a wheel bearing to me. Tapping the curb won't loosen any bolts. If you whack the hell out of a curb then you can bend stuff and knock alignment off but you still won't be loosening any bolts.

skid542 wrote:I hate to be bearer of bad news but it sounds like a wheel bearing to me. Tapping the curb won't loosen any bolts. If you whack the hell out of a curb then you can bend stuff and knock alignment off but you still won't be loosening any bolts.

Will tapping the curb ruin the bearing? I certainly hope not...my mom bent a control arm on our Lumina and that didn't require a new bearing. I think though that if it is the bearing, it's due to the fact that it was installed improperly (ie, beating it in with a sledge hammer).

I'll put it this way Manarius. I had to cut the edge of the road close one night to avoid oncoming traffic (unmarked country roads) and whacked a serious pothole. Serious as in 6 inch deep with sharp corners and about 1.5 ft long. I hit it at about 60 mph. It made a hell of a loud noise and man I felt horrible for my baby but she took it. It didn't knock my alignment, or atleast not the front as it didn't exhibit any pull before or after the bump. This was also probably about 10-15k miles ago and I haven't had any troubles with that side yet, other than a bad ball joint (broken boot). These Subaru's are rally inspired and will take more of a beating than most cars in that respect. I've also bounced off a curb at around 10mph, rainy and the infamous turn that kills people on understeer got me. Again no troubles and was the same side as I whacked the hole with.

The sledge method of bearing installation though, eh...

Well, they guy that did it couldn't get the main thing off the car to press the bearing on..but anyways.

I pulled off the rotor. The thing that has the lug bolts on it moves in place about..I'd say...1/8 of an inch. Does that still smell of wheel bearing? If so...how cheap can I get one for?

The thing that has the lug bolts on it, if it moves, it's definately the wheel bearing.

That's the hub, and you need to remove it to get to the wheel bearing.

I'd replace it, but that's just me...

BAC5.2 wrote:The thing that has the lug bolts on it, if it moves, it's definately the wheel bearing.

That's the hub, and you need to remove it to get to the wheel bearing.

I'd replace it, but that's just me...

That part is $109 online....is there any sort of special thing I need to do it get it off? Or is it just remove the big bolt on the end with the pin, pull off, and put back on.

Wheel bearings are a pain. You should check the FSM.

I hate to pull up old threads..but...

I took a movie with sound of what this noise sounds like...maybe someone can discern what it means...

Click here to watch Really a bearing?