alright my girlfriends sister has a 2001 cavalier. and she brought it over today with a problem ive never encountered. there is a loud grinding noise coming from the front axels mainly the right from what i can tell. she said it has gotten worse since it has started.
you can feel the grinding as you are driving and the noise is fairly loud.
my guess is bearings or somethin in the axel.
any help or suggestions as to possible causes and fixes are appreciated.
thanks,
Aaron
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alright so after searching more and diagnosing the car a lil more, im pretty sure its the bearings that are bad. so im gonna try replacing the hub assebly.
any other suggestions welcomed
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How do the brakes look/work?
I havent seen a car yet that has had wheel bearings that got so bad they started grinding.
Does it do it when you turn? Coulda got sand or road debris in the strut mount bearings which could cause a grind.
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I once had a 1986 Maxima where the bearings were busted..It was very much like you have stated with this 01 J, I don't know about on cavaliers/sunfires, but the only way to really tell is to take off the hub assembly.
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Try this. find a parking lot, and make a few turns. going about 20-30 mph make a left hander, then at the same speed do a right hander. If when you are making the right hander, the noise goes away, but on a left hander it comes back its LIKELY (but not always) the right side bearing. and vice-versa for the left. basically its when you put a load on the bearing.
Another test is to jack the front end up. spin the wheel (either one) by hand, and put your hand on the spring. if you feel some grinding/vibrations in the spring, you probably have a bad bearing. use your ears during this as well. when using this method, the feeling in the spring will differ greatly from the feeling in the other side spring. you will just know if you have a problem.
obviously, the best way to do this is have the brakes off, but thats not always practical. good luck!
the noise isnt necessarily a grinding but a metal on metal noise. you can feel a vibration in the car like the bearings are shot. i jacked the car up and spun the wheel didnt feel the springs but they felt like they were draggin, didnt hear the noise though.
ill get the car back tomorrow and im gonna take it apart friday. im gonna go ahead and purchase new hub assemblies.
would it be best to replace both sides while im at it ? or just the one if its the only one bad?
it might help to also add that she had a fender bender about 3+/- months ago. side swiped a van with the right quarter panel. not massive damage but enough to bust it up. im guessin that put excessive wear on the hub causing the bearing to fail. so it might only be the right side. when i get the car back ill try the parking lot test.
i asked her if it got better or worse when she turned and she said she couldnt tell.
and the brakes work fine. she says that the noise gets quieter when you apply the brakes. but at lower speeds it not as loud so....
thats all i got for now.
thanks for all the input
aaron
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