"whrr whrr whrr" coming from rear wheels

[Huffer]

Sounds like it's metal on metal, doesn't go away when brake pedal is pressed but doesn't cause any weird steering response. Brakes appear to check out fine, there's been no change in the brake feel.

98 wagon.

I'm thinking wheel bearing.. any other suggestions?

[SilentRacer]

Sounds right though mine sounded more like a rubber hose slapping against the ground noise.

[jmgtp]

Almost certainly a wheel bearing. I just replaced a rear wheel bearing in a friends jetta this weekend. He had the same whir whir whir sound and also some nasty vibrations. With the wheel off the ground I could literally shake it back and forth a half inch at the tire- there was so much slop. Car had under 50k miles, the bearing disintegrated upon removal.

[2.5GT]

Like metal shaving sound? Scraping ice? then i believe the the wheel bearings , yes sir.

and does it gets louder when you speed up/low down?

[Airgne]

is 55.25+ shipping for front and 84.56+shipping for rear a good price for wheel bearings?

[Huffer]

Like metal shaving sound? Scraping ice? then i believe the the wheel bearings , yes sir.

and does it gets louder when you speed up/low down?

Yep, that's the sound. Almost sounds like a stone against the brake dust shield.

Doesn't get louder, but the frequency of the "whrr" gets slower as I slow down, which leads me to believe it's a rotational part.

One of those things that I can only hear if I'm passing a wall or driving close to a gutter - the sound hits the wall and bounces back so I can hear it.

[SammyDaFish]

Right rear wheel bearings are notorious in Subarus. There is one in my shop almost every month. I need to do it on my wagon too. I don't know what the issue is with the right rear, but it always seems to be only that one.

[birukun]

People who are right handed sitting in the driver's seat on the left will turn harder to the left instead of right. This puts more pressure on the bearings on the right side of the car.

My totally unsupported-pulled-out-of-the-air-random theory.

Expect the right front to fail soon after.....

:-)

[Huffer]

^^ unless you're an ex-LHD car driver who's right handed, which means I turn aggressively to the right, I hug the blind curb a lot.

It's the left rear that's making the sound...

Anyone give me a ballpark idea of the cost to fix a wheel bearing, parts + labor?

[dplacencia]

Sounds like a wheel bearing to me too.

[Airgne]

[quote="Huffer"]^^ unless you're an ex-LHD car driver who's right handed, which means I turn aggressively to the right, I hug the blind curb a lot.quote]

i know how u feel. look at my post up in the thread. i put prices there i got off hansonmotors.com

[Huffer]

Thanks mate, that seems to be the price I'm seeing online for bearings.
Going to get a local quote, then see how difficult it is to do the repair myself.

[SammyDaFish]

Thanks mate, that seems to be the price I'm seeing online for bearings.
Going to get a local quote, then see how difficult it is to do the repair myself.

if you have a hub shark / hub press then it's pretty straight forward. If you don't, bring it to a shop that has one (any repair shop can do this job)

[Huffer]

Professional diagnosis says NO to the wheel bearing being the issue, there's no problems with cornering load on the wheels which would normally highlight the issue.

They also tested the brakes and found those to be fine. They think the problem might be that the rear brake dust shield could be dragging... we'll be checking on that sucka this week.

Maybe I'll fit the Borla at the same time.

[subba]

if it sounds like sand paper rubbing against a hollow metal bar, its definitely the dust shield rubbing against the pad, happened to me after i put on my coilovers.

[Mikey97D]

Huffer - It's strange that they tested / inspected the brakes but didn't notice / bend the dust shield back while in there. I'm assuming they took the rear wheels off while inspecting?

Good luck!

[Huffer]

Road test + on-lift test only... The garage deals with a LOT of cars on a daily basis, they determined that there was no excessive wear on the components and it is entirely possible that my hearing is better.

When they ran it on the lift they didn't notice any excessive driveline noise... though they did tell me the exhaust sounded a little throaty (which I told them that was by intention...STi axleback + custom midpipe FTW).

I had asked them for a quote only, so they would not have undertaken any work (including attempting to bend back/clean up the brake dust shield).

That's ok, I have to replaced the rear diff fluid, so I might as well mess with the brakes while I'm there.

[Huffer]

Update, so I spent several hours yesterday messing with the car. I couldn't get the rear rotors to come off (I need the M-bolt to break the rotor off) so I just used a screwdriver and a hammer to take the rear brake dust shields off.

I also used the time to remove the fuel filler pipe cover - it's a black plastic item that screws and clips to the car.

If you are smart you'll either remove it entirely, or take it off, drill some holes in the bottom of it to allow dust, grime and water to drain off - when I removed it my fuel filler pipe was starting to corrode because of it.
(I know this because I had to replace the pipe on my BD)

So anyway - removing the brake dust shields didn't do a thing, because the whrring noise is coming from the FRONT WHEELS!!!

I'm so mad with this car right now. I spent close to $300 on brand new front brake hardware and it's still not right. something is still dragging on the front rotor.

Topic moved from Engine + Drivetrain to Wheels + Brakes.

[impreza_GC8]

You know, I've been hearing this same noise myself recently. I suppose it could be a wheel bearing for me, I'm interested to see what you come up with.

[Huffer]

Last night I tore apart my front driver's brake to find out what the issue with the whirring sound. It's definitely a pad pressing intermittently on the rotor, because now my rotor has a vertical mark on it every 3"...

So I'm thinking it has to do with the slider pins, or that there isn't enough grease on the pad shims.

I checked the slider pins, aok. Checked the pads, they're fine. Cleaned the rotor with brake cleaner and they came up looking good. Compressed the brake pistons and they're fine, move smoothly.

Reassembled and made special care to ensure the wheel face is pressed up against the brake rotor, from the bottom up so that the rotor is sitting between the pads. No issue.

Went for a drive. Sound is still there.


Doesn't go away when brake pedal is pressed, but I know it's brake related because I've had a moderate vibration when aggressively decelerating from 45mph-20mph.

[J.McDonald Knives]

Do you notice any jerking of the car when you turn one way or the other like on clover-leaf turn or anything? I had both bearings on the right side go out and I would be turning to the left and then all of a sudden I would feel the car jerk to the to the left like I was over steering. When the lifted up the car they could wobble the wheels back and forth a good bit. Just jack up each wheel and see if you can rock them side to side.

[Huffer]

Car is completely smooth other than this sound...
(except the t/o bearing which only chirps on idle)

[J.McDonald Knives]

Car is completely smooth other than this sound...
(except the t/o bearing which only chirps on idle)

Mine was smooth as well for a while and I was hearing the noise and then it started to over steer on me and that when th bearing is well past gone and is actually shattered. Ride around on it for a few more thousand miles and see if it starts to over steer and the you know for sure its a wheel bearing. I would get a second opinion on the wheel bearings. Take it to the dealership to have them look at it. They deal with it more than most other shops.