Unsuccessful wheel bearing replacement. Need help.

[gorilla p]

So I brought my car into the dealership for an oil change after hearing some noise coming from what sounded like my front-left tire. They told me that I needed a wheel-bearing replaced. I brought it to a local shop to confirm the issue and they confirmed this after driving around for a little while.

Symptoms
There is a humming sound that gets louder as I go faster whether the car is in neutral or in gear (any gear).
If I turn the steering-wheel to the right about 45-90 degrees, the sound gets quiet and/or stops.
There is a very slight vibration.

I brought it to a local mechanic after purchasing the wheel bearing from Pep Boys (SKF Brand) and after driving around he confirmed that the wheel-bearing needed to be replaced. He took it all apart and brought the assembly back over to Pep Boys to have the new bearing pressed in (he didn't have the tool for it at his shop). He said there was a new guy who did the pressing and it took him quite a bit longer than usual. He said he also noticed that there was not a lot of resistance when spinning it.

After putting everything back together, the sound is still there. The plan is to bring it back to Pep Boys tomorrow to have a new (replacement) wheel bearing pressed in and install that.

Can anyone think of something that I can be missing? All of the research that I have done (especially the loud humming sound coming from a specific corner of the car and the sound going away when turning the wheel in a specific direction) has led me to the same conclusion of it needing a wheel bearing replaced.

Any help is appreciated.

[festersays]

It sounds to me like you're the victim of a newbie car mechanic that broke the bearing while installing it. Make sure that guy doesn't touch it the second time round.

[gorilla p]

This was a concern of mine afterwards as well, so I watched a video on how to swap out the. bearing and apparently it was bothering this guy. I purchased another bearing and brought it over and he got the tool to press it. We did it again and I stayed and watched and everything was done correctly, but the problem was still there. This was bothering him as well at this point. It was obviously a wheel bearing, so we checked out the right side, despite all of the noise coming from the left. After taking everything apart and spinning the rotor, it was obvious that's where the problem was. The guy. Chalked it up to a learned lesson and he got some extra practice swapping out bearings and pressing them. Everything sounds great now and despite swapping out both bearings, I was only charged the original price for the 1 bearing swap. (About $215 overall with the bearings included.)

So while most of this story may be of no use to most people, it may be useful to check both bearings before replacing one regardless of which side the. Noise is coming from.

[dantheman]

The BEST method to check for worn wheel bearings, if unsure of which side the noise is coming from when the vehicle is on the hoist, is to grasp a full turn of the coil in one hand(squeezing them together), while spinning the wheel (quickly as possible) with your other hand. any roughness in the bearing will be transmitted directly to your hand, and diag becomes easier