[Quiltrain]

2005 focus 116xxxmi.owned it for about a month.
since day one of owning the focus, its had a "wah wah" rotational whine coming from the front driver's side. a couple days ago i replaced the front swaybar endlinks and i felt around for loose stuff down there. i found that there was some play in the axles, but im not sure if this is normal or not. Any good way to test if a wheel bearing is bad? any ideas on what else it could be? thanks for the help!

 

[alex62390]

First rotate the tires, this will eliminate the possibility that its a chopped tire your hearing. Then to test the wheel bearing drive the car at a steady speed and start to steer like you were changing lanes in both directions. Does the noise get louder in one direction and quiet in the other? If you steer to the right and its louder the the left bearing is making the noise. If it is a wheel bearing, it will make more noise when its loaded. You can also jack up the car and shake the wheel, if there is play in all directions its likely that the wheel bearing is worn. Be sure that the play is not the ball joint or the tie rod ends.

 

[sailor]

X2 - I had ONE bad tire that sounded like a bad wheel bearing... when switched to the rear the sound went away.....

BTW - they were NEW tires the dealer put on B4 selling the car.....