I can't seem to figure out this problem, there's a humming sound that comes when I drive above 30mph. I first thought it was my bearings, but had that checked and they couldn't produce a noise while it was on a lift. Had everything checked and can't figure out the noise. Any ideas? Checked tires, axle, shocks, bearings. Strange the car won't go much over 25mph on a lift.
Can you make a video while driving, upload somewhere and then post a link? And yes, you can't turn off the traction control, so the car will act weird when off the ground. If you rock the car while moving forward, by turning the steering wheel back and forth a little bit, and the noise comes and goes, it is a wheel bearing iPhone ?
The shop I brought it to couldn't identify which wheel was making the noise, they are pretty sure it's a wheel bearing noise. They said wait till it gets louder and then I'll be able to pinpoint which bearing to replace. It just drives me crazy driving around with this humming noise. I was thinking it might have been some cheap tires, but that humming comes on right at around 30mph, so it shouldn't be tire related.
I have 7 of these cars and I usually know all the sounds coming from them. What I can't understand is why this sound comes right at 30mph. My thinking is if it's a bad bearing, there will be noise even below 30mph. The shop I went to had a stethoscope on each wheel bearing and couldn't determine which wheel was making the noise. It's making me think it may not be a bearing problem. It's my project 2005 with 176,000. Everything seems to be running fine, except for this humming sound.
My experience has been that most won't hear a bearing under a certain speed because the pitch is too low. I'm a technician so I'm kind of sensitive to it at lower speeds but not everybody is. iPhone ?
When the shop tech took the car for a test drive, he noticed the sound below 30mph, I couldn't hear it until it started humming at 30mph. Even so, they couldn't find the bad wheel bearing when they put it up on a lift.
A good solution to this would be wireless chassis ears. Put a microphone on each corner and listen while someone drives. Not every shop has this iPhone ?
There are wheel bearings on Amazon for about $50 vs an OEM part for $150. Do you think there's much of a quality difference?
Yeah there is a wide range of quality from good to bad in the Chinese / Amazon / eBay category IMO. It's not a big deal for the rear ones because you can just unbolt them yourself at home in the driveway. But the front ones are pressed in and require a shop press or some $$$ for labor so in that case I would only want to do it once iPhone ?
I'm thinking it's going to be the front wheel. That's where I hear the noise coming from, but can't verify it at this time. The shop quoted a price of $260 for the front, and $180 for the rear. I'm thinking these are aftermarket parts, not OEM
You are probably correct. Upon doing some research, looks like the fronts are bolt on for your 2005 iPhone ?
Thanks for the research. I haven't looked up any details on the repair process. I'm sure there are lots of threads on PriusChat on this repair subject. Not sure I'll want to deal with it, $260 sounds like a bargain to get rid of a problem.
I remember a relatively recent thread of a similar complaint, where the OP had to replace wheel bearing(s) twice to get rid of the noise. As I recall, they were good quality bearings, too. Just a bad batch from the factory or something. The same thing is happening in my '07 with 100K miles. It may be tires and when I need new tires and the noise doesn't go away I'll deal with bearings. There's no detectable play in the bearings so it feels safe and it's a minor annoyance. The principal driver doesn't even notice.
to determine which side is going bad, turn left and right while its making the noise. if the noise gets louder and softer when turning, you will know its a wheel bearing. the wheel bearing with the load on it will be noisy-- if you turn right and it gets louder, its the left bearing. when a bearing is beginning to fail, its often impossible to hear it on the lift because the bearings aren't loaded. the weight of the car on the bad bearing loads it up, and then you hear it. the shop which quoted you $260 might install a maypop hub. make sure they use oem or Timken. you want to see that the bearing is a Koyo or a name brand, not some unlabeled junk made in Indonesia or worse. and beware of counterfeit ebay hubs. I bought a supposed Timken from ebay, and the bearing was unmarked. I can't prove it was counterfeit, but every picture of a Timken I've ever seen showed a Koyo bearing.
I have found 2 part numbers for Timken rear bearings at RockAuto. Does anyone know the difference? TIMKEN 512217 TIMKEN HA590055 More than $50 savings on 512217 (which is also a part number used by MOOG)
