# 05 Malibu, all new wheel bearings, still have noise



## cjm94 (Sep 25, 2011)

Are your tires rough when you rub your hands on them? Cupping tires will sound exactly like wheel bearings.


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## johnd393 (May 12, 2007)

What I thought cupping was is dips & crests about 3 inches in lenght. The tire guy at Sams Club felt the tire and said there is cupping. There are like 1 inch segments in the tread pattern at the edge of the tires. My hand are not as trained at recognizing tire irregularities but there may be some variation in those segments. The tire guy doesn't think it's a tire warranty issue but due to suspension problems. I don't think there are suspension problems but maybe if I had rotated tires sooner it wouldn't have happened. So, the probability that it's tire noise is getting stronger. I just want to know my wheel bearing are good.


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## ukrkoz (Dec 31, 2010)

Well, simply do WB tests and be happy. I don't think it's your bearings though. 
Btw, I rotated tores not so long ago on Ridgeline and I did B/F-C/C pattern and there after at some speed there's noticeable tire noise and slight shimmy in SW. But I know it takes some time to tire lugs to re-pattern themselves in the opposite direction, so I take it easy.


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## johnd393 (May 12, 2007)

My tires were rotated front to back. Do you guys think changing sides so they spin the opposite direction would even out the wear?


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

You don't want to change the direction of spin on the tires, it will make the steel belts bunch up.


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## johnd393 (May 12, 2007)

BigJim said:


> You don't want to change the direction of spin on the tires, it will make the steel belts bunch up.


 I can find information online that says to swap sides when the rears are brought to the front. It may be something that used to be true. I don't know.


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## cjm94 (Sep 25, 2011)

That is a way to ensure the tires get to every corner of the car. You need to look ar the tires though because a lot of tires are directional. If they are they will have an arrow pointing out the rotation. On the sidewall.


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## Brainbucket (Mar 30, 2015)

Unless the tires are el'cheapos, you can run them any way you want. Years ago you couldn't cause they weren't as advanced in tire manufacturing as they are today. Now directional tires only can go one direction. But you can rotate them as long as they are going in the correct direction. If it is tire noise, you can find out when you are driving and the road changes. What I mean is you are driving on a concrete road. Then it changes to asphalt. The tire noise will change also. If it is bearing noise, it won't. Bearing don't know what kinda road your on. And you can get a bad bearing out of the box. Now to test for bearing noise, you kinda do the slalom test. What I do is load the bearing to see if the noise is loader when I'm turning a corner. Kinda do a hard back and forth with the steering wheel to make the car go back and forth to load the bearing. It will rear its ugly head if you have a bad wheel bearing. Say you turn right. It loads the left bearing as you turn cause the wieght is on the left more now that going straight. The left bearing, if bad, will get louder. Have someone drive the vehicle as you set on the four corners of the vehicle, ie, above the wheel to see if the noise is louder there than else where. Hope this helps.:thumbsup:


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## ron45 (Feb 25, 2014)

Don't laugh, but I had a similar situation and it drove me nuts.

Some how during the work I bent the brake shield outward, it was rubbing the rotor.


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