My rear left wheel is making an ungodly amount of noise. It isn't continuous, rather a squealing which recurs more and more quickly as I build up speed. It has happened with two different sets of wheels, so my thought is that it may be a wheel bearing.

The car is a 2003 Enthusiast with a little over 50,000 miles. This noise has occurred on more than one set of wheels (both stock and aftermarket) so I know it isn't the wheels. The brakes were services ~300 miles ago, so I know it isn't a pad wear indicator -- plus, it isn't a steady noise (it "pulses").

Any opinions??? Tomorrow I am going to make a 3GP cameraphone video so you can hear the noise.

 

My wheel bearing on the front went out at around 45k and it was a very loud roaring noise when it was rolling. It was pretty damn loud too, not sure if this helps or not but I got it replaced under warranty and no more noise.

 

Isn't the warranty only good for 36 months or 36,000 miles?

 

Richard,

If you jack the car up and spin the wheel by hand, does it still make the noise? If it does, take the wheel off and you might be able to isolate it to a particular area or part. I'd guess maybe the wheel speed sensor but if that was going bad, then I'd suspect you'd get TCS/VDC warnings.

If the brakes were serviced recently, it's possible that something did't get put back in exactly the same position and now it's rubbing. You should be able to see scuff marks if that's the case.

Dave

 

The drivetrain warranty covers 5 years/ 60,000 miles. The warranty book does make it look like he'd be covered:

DRIVETRAIN
Drive shafts, final drive housing and all internal parts,
propeller shafts, universal joints, bearings, seals and gaskets.

 

UPDATE:

I got frustrated last night and tried my own corrective method: multiple highspeed threshold braking tests, followed by a proper (slow) brake system cooldown.

It worked! Squeaking is completely gone. It was a warped rotor after all