Possible Bad Wheel Bearing - drone noise coming from rear - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

YotaRunner4 · 06-22-2010, 05:22 AM

'07 Camry SE, I4 44K

OK, so I've noticed a bad drone noise coming from what seems to be the drivers side rear wheel - and its driving me crazy. I initially thought it was bad tires (the OEM Turanzas suck anyway), but I just replaced them with Conti ExtremeContact (so now I'm already $640 in the hole). After driving out of the Discount tire, I noticed the drone is still there. It starts around 20 MPH and gets worse with speed. Its not the exhaust as I can shift to neutral when in higher speeds and the drone does not dissipate. Also, I notice that the drone noise gets louder when turning around a right-handed curve in the road. Could this indicate a bad wheel bearing? How can I tell for sure?

If so, how hard is it to change out if I were to do it myself?

**PRINCESS PEACH** · 06-22-2010, 06:26 AM

give me a video.
and its easy to change out if you have the tools.

YotaRunner4 · 06-22-2010, 06:29 AM

I'll have to try to get a video later - but I'm not sure how well the drone can be heard through a Droid Phone video.

Any idea what kind of tools (specialty) that I would need. I've replaced wheel bearings in an older Chevy S10, but this sounds like a different ball game from what I've researched so far.

gdanaher · 06-22-2010, 06:50 AM

The swap only takes time and is easy. Standard metric socket set pretty much gets it, but you'd need a large screw driver to pry out the brake pads. You will remove the brake assembly, rotor, seperate the paring brake assemby, and unplug the ABS from the rear of the bearing carrier. The bearing itself is nothing like what you saw on a Chevy. Make sure the replacement unit is the correct one with the ABS input on the rear.

Tos see if it is what you think it is, jack the car up and stethoscope the back side of the housing as you spin the wheel, or take the wheel off and hand turn the assembly. If really bad you can feel the bearing's roughness.

YotaRunner4 · 06-22-2010, 08:12 AM

I just talked with the parts guy at my dealer and he said the rear wheel bearing only comes in a self contained hub/bearing assembly and quoted me a price of $483 for the part only. I can't believe this. I am really losing faith in Toyotas quality now.

At 37K the water pump needed to be replaced, and now at 44K, the wheel bearing needs to be replaced...

csaxon · 06-22-2010, 09:37 AM

My neighbors left rear bearing went out at 16,500 miles. Labor and new hub/bearing assembly were $760. Warranty picked up the tab.

JSM1284 · 06-22-2010, 01:03 PM

This is covered under powertrain warranty.

YotaRunner4 · 06-22-2010, 01:14 PM

What makes you think this is covered under Power Train? I would love to think this, but I can't see how this is Power Train related.

YotaRunner4 · 06-22-2010, 01:19 PM

I would think if it were the front hub that was bad, it would be covered under the Powertrain as it is part of the transaxle. My issue is in the rear bearing which has no significance to the drivetrain

MyFirstCamry · 06-22-2010, 02:21 PM

I believe there is a TSB that may apply for this, but I cannot remember the TSB number. Had to do with excessive vibration, and as per the TSB, replacing the bearinggs and hub assemblies.

I could be wrong - just throwing that out there as a possiblity.

YotaRunner4 · 06-22-2010, 02:31 PM

That would be great if that was the case. So question is how can I search TSBs?

tengiday · 06-22-2010, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YotaRunner4

That would be great if that was the case. So question is how can I search TSBs?

You can check this out:
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/tsbs/tsbsearch.cfm
This lists some possible TSB's on NHTSA for different cars.

P/S: It's down right now, but you can wait till it's working again! I think the dealer only needs the TSB number, which you can find on this website.

njerald · 06-22-2010, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YotaRunner4

I just talked with the parts guy at my dealer and he said the rear wheel bearing only comes in a self contained hub/bearing assembly and quoted me a price of $483 for the part only. I can't believe this. I am really losing faith in Toyotas quality now.

At 37K the water pump needed to be replaced, and now at 44K, the wheel bearing needs to be replaced...

Price for the left rear assembly, list $421.24, $294.87 + shipping.

I would think you could find just the bearing in the aftermarket and press the old one out of the hub.

gdanaher · 06-22-2010, 06:46 PM

No, I wish. They don't work like that. The outer race is part of the assembly. He can buy it aftermarket though for less but as I noted above, he needs to make sure he gets the one with the ABS output connector. They make and sell them without as well.

It might be helpful for young folks with minimal knowledge to look up parts at a location such as oreillyauto.com and see what the part looks like if they don't have a service manual.

ScrooYoo · 06-22-2010, 08:41 PM

those prices are abolutely ridiculous. I think I paid around $140 for an aftermarket rear wheel bearing assembly with abs from carquest. and its been on the car for well over 100k miles and still perfect.