How to Determine if a Car Bearing is Faulty?

[StTucker]

How to identify wheel bearing damage: 1. Roll down the window and listen to determine if the noise originates outside the vehicle. 2. Increase the vehicle speed (when the humming sound is more pronounced), then shift to neutral and let the car coast, observing whether the noise comes from the engine. If the humming sound remains unchanged while coasting in neutral, it's likely a wheel bearing issue. 3. Make a temporary stop, exit the vehicle, and check if the axle temperature is normal by touching each of the four wheel hubs to roughly gauge if their temperatures are consistent (under normal brake shoe/pad clearance conditions, there's a temperature difference between front and rear wheels, with the front wheels being slightly hotter). If the temperature difference seems negligible, proceed slowly to a repair shop. 4. Lift the car using a lift (after releasing the handbrake and shifting to neutral). In the absence of a lift, use a jack to raise each wheel individually, then manually rotate all four wheels quickly. A faulty axle will produce distinctly different sounds compared to others, making this method highly effective for pinpointing the problematic axle.