Got in my car (2017 Hyundai Elantra Ltd) Saturday and as I pulled out of a parallel spot there was a snap sound and minor jolt akin to if a tire drives off a curb. Thought maybe the tire had been partially on the curb or a rock or something. As soon as I pulled out and started accelerating I heard this rumbling/clicking sound coming from the rear passenger tire area. It reminded me a lot like the sound my tire made when it blew out on the highway and was rumbling as it turned. I braked and the noise increased and the brake pedal had a lot of pushback (pulsation). Kinda like as the rumble sound happened the pedal was bouncing back/jolting too. I was thinking it may be brake or rotor related but I didn’t see anything obvious when I removed the wheel. Mobile mechanic came out yesterday and said he thinks it’s a wheel bearing going out. Said brake pads and rotors look good and there wasn’t anything else that might explain it. He said it’d be about $400-500 parts and labor. Does this sound right? I don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars and it not be that. Car only has 48k miles on it so idk how the bearing wore out already. Also if it is the bearing is this something I can easily do myself or should I just pay the $400-500?
If you have to ask it is better to pay the mechanic.
Does this not sound like an abs sensor issue on the rear wheel, not a bearing? Wiring, connection, dirt? Suspect though incorporated with the bearing but . . .
You felt the ABS pulsating. The pop may have been the bearing. The mechanic saw it and touched it so they have a much better opinion of the condition.
In that 48K miles, if the car has been curb struck or even a big pothole the bearing may indeed be bad.
+1
The description has all of the characteristics of ABS activation.
We don’t know the level of your mechanical skills, so I don’t think any of us from afar could say whether this is within your skill set.
From what I see the rear wheel bearing is replaced by replacing the entire hub ass’y. There’s two types of rear suspension system, multi-link or torsion. And the rear wheel can be configured disk or drum brake. And there’s a wheel speed sensor to deal with on some or all configurations. So how this job is done depends on the configuration you have, but seem to take a pro about 1.5 hour job for one side.
BTW, the oem hub & bearing ass’y is quite expensive, nearly $800 just for the part, so parts and labor, expect to pay much more than $400-$500.
Suggest to have the car inspected by a shop mechanic to make sure they concur with the faulty wheel bearing diagnosis. Have you jacked the wheel up and rotated it by hand, listening for noises? Tugged, pushed, twisted on the wheel for any unusual bearing play?
Sometimes rocks will get lodged in a wheel and make weird noises, nothing to do with the bearings.
That happened to me many years ago in a very rural area with a rental Tempo, and I was convinced that it was a bad bearing until–suddenly–the rock shattered from the friction, and the noise completely ceased. What a relief!