So not long after putting new brakes in my wife's R60 I noticed a growling noise when turning, coming from the front wheels. As the weeks go by its getting really loud. It's mostly in a turn, definitely a rotational noise from the front wheels/tires. It almost sounds the tire is rubbing on the inner fender, but it's all stock, so that shouldn't be it. Definitely a Grrrrrr grrrrrr grrrrr grrrrrr noise. Before I drop $240 on new unit bearings, I thought I'd ask and see if that sounds about right. It has 58,000 miles on it.

 

It's free to rotate your wheels (back to front) to pinpoint the problem.

 

Probably due for new bearings. This has been discussed a few times recently:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-bearings.html

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-bearings.html

 

Double check that all the lug bolts are tight. It will make that noise for a while before your wheel falls off.

 

Good ideas. I'll check those out this evening. I bet it's the bearings though as it gets louder with speed and steering angle. I found rock auto has the Timken bearings for $150 each.

 

My R53 did exactly that, and replacing the bearings fixed it. I used NSK's, and they work fine.

 

I forgot to report back. The passenger side bearing was toast. It was rough and hard to turn by hand. I changed out both sides and smooth sailing!

 

And just one more data point... about a month after replacing the second front wheel hub/bearing assembly (that was past worn out and was falling apart), and I got reports from the car's primary driver that the rear drivers side bearing is starting to growl. Took it for a test drive, and sure enough, sounds like it is going too.

So two more hubs on the way (NSK's, which I used on the front, and which are a historically good brand at a moderate price).

(I think this car is at about 130k, from memory).

Looks like the rear hubs are easier (no axle nut, and don't need a new nut), But they are also a little more expensive. Though I'm doing these sooner rather than later so it doesn't fail far enough to chew my ABS sensor this time.