Got a 07 Tacoma with front end wheel bearing noise. How far can I push this and will it cause more money damage in the long run
Will it cause…
Nobody Knows
Yes
CSA
Have you jacked it up & spun the wheel to listen/feel to verify it is the bearing? The last time I had a bearing noise in my front end - and it sounded just like a bad wheel bearing - it came from a shop not having tightened my lug nuts. Did you check those? How are the tires?
If it is a wheel bearing then you don’t mess with those - there’s no way to tell when you might get complete failure & complete failure is very bad - dangerous.
It is impossible to predict how much longer you can go on like this, and it will get worse in fairly short order and can cause a lot of incidental damages, ranging from unusual tire wear to causing a serious accident when it fails completely. Total failure can come in the form of a wheel falling off or a wheel locking up, and neither will be pretty. The last time I had wheel bearing noise show up in one of my vehicles, I fixed it the same month it started, due to the safety factor and because I can’t stand to drive something that sounds and drives like junk.
If the wheel stays on when the bearing totally fails, the locked up bearing can cause damage to the spindle/hub/knuckle. So not only do you have the failed bearing to replace, but also the damaged components from the failed bearing. Which costs more money.
Replace the bearing.
Tester
That’s what I thought. I did jack it up an spin it with no noise. I took the wheel off also. I will probably replace both at the same time. Thanks for all the replys.
If you have not inspected the tire tread wear pattern it’s also possible that an irregular wear pattern, if it exists, can mimic a wheel bearing noise.