2000 Mustang Gt - Wheel Bearing Noise Up Front, Can't Figure Out Which Side.

I've had a minor wheel bearing noise for the last year and finally decided to change it, the noise got worse over last few weeks I can actually feel vibration on the floorboard & brake pedal as I'm coming to a stop now (vibration even if I don't apply the brakes).

The problem is when we jack up the car both front wheels are tight and spin without making any noise (Holding tire top & bottom and giving it a good shake) I've always read this is how you identify a bad bearing by checking for a loose wheel?

Is there another method I could try other than replacing both sides?

Thanks.

Well we thought it was the Driver side bearing but replacing it didn't help, I'm going to try putting the old driver side bearing on passenger side tomorrow and hope that cures it.

Is there anything else that could be making noise up front if it turns out not being a bearing issue?

Also does Ford use Timken hub / bearings because the old one was identical to the replacement I bought, either that or the previous owner had replaced it already.

Mustang5L5 said:

Could also be tires. Are yours wearing down?


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Nope tires are only a year old and not a whole lot of mileage on them, I just bought another spindle nut and decided to do swap out passenger bearing tonight, may as well get it all over with in 1 day. I'll post results.

Wow.. changing passenger side bearing didnt help either... it must be coming from the rear end somewhere?

I'll have to see what I can figure out tomorrow...

DJ Fury said:

How old are your brake rotors/pads/calipers?

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The rotors & calipers are the originals / stock far as I know, I've never changed them in the last 6 years ive owned the car and there was 1 owner before me, The brake pads are about a year old.

The only odd thing I can think of is my front wheels didnt spin very easily with the car jacked up, the brakes were sort of grabbing the rotors, when changing the bearings I had to use a screwdriver to free the pads up so i could remove caliper from the rotors, but the pads are still in good shape on both sides.

We checked the rear brakes & rotors yesterday and all looked good, I had a friend ride in the front and backseat around the block a few times, he said the noise is definitely louder up front so we're kind of scratching our heads now.

But I talked to a nearby shop and they said bring it by Monday morning and they'll diagnose it for free. I'm really curious whats going on tho lol.

p.s. If I were to try and explain the symptom in text.. the noise is like a "wub wub" rubbing sound which becomes more rapid the faster I go.. If I accelerate up to 50mph and then put it in neutral (5 speed stick) and let it coast down to a stop the noise goes from a higher tone to a lower tone / rubbing sound as Im coming to a stop, you can sometimes hear a vibration in the dash once im around 15-20mph and I can feel it in the floorboard.