[John Anthony]

No, definitely not wheel bearings.

Both front wheel bearings are new, less than 3000 miles on them, and this is not any kind of a howling sound.
I've dealt with so many bad wheel bearings I know that sound in my sleep.
The thump, creates a very light snapping feel, in the bottom front of the car, that's why I'm thinking CV joint.

For the record, each wheel bearing up front costs $300 to have replaced at the garage, and the back wheel bearings/hub assembly cost $384 for the rear passenger side, and $404 for the rear driver's side, so no, wheel bearings are NOT a cheap repair.

I've done all 4 in about 1 calendar year, and if I have to do them again I'll be sending the car to the junkyard.
The rusted-out 16 year old Corolla isn't worth putting another $1000 into it.
So, ruling out wheel bearings, anyone have experience with a front end thumping sound/feel?

Can you post a recording of the noise?

Did you have rust problems with your rear wheel bearing/hub assemblies? That's the only reason I can think of for it to be so expensive. It should be an affordable job. Here's the DIY which shows the procedure; really something any DIY person can do.

DIY 2003-2008 Corolla, Matrix, Pontiac Vibe FWD Rear...

Hello everyone. I had a replacement bearing go bad on my 2003 Corolla LE and decided I would make a DIY for replacement. This DIY will apply to all 2003-2008 FWD Corolla, Matrix, and Pontiac Vibe models with rear drum brakes. It will be very similar for 2ZZGE equipped 2003-2006 Matrix XRS and...

www.toyotanation.com

 

[John Anthony]

Jack it up and take another look with the wheel ON. Spin the wheel and see if anything is slapping against it.

 

[John Anthony]

A problem that happens with the front bearings is if the mechanic installed them into the hub/knuckle using an impact wrench. This causes problems down the road. The idea is that the impact wrench puts great and repeated impact pressure on the bearings and they shake so hard that they become compromised and then later fail prematurely. They are supposed to be slowly pressed in. I just replaced a front bearing on a Honda and pressed it in slowly by hand with a wrench (and a bearing cup/spacer installation kit that I rented from the parts store). No impact. I knew this prior to doing it, which is why I didn't use my impact on it. Also, the bearing must be torqued at the correct rating prior to driving the car. The bearing I replaced was also new, but the person who installed it didn't torque it properly (and I don't know if he used an impact or not, but I also noticed that he cut up the hub when removing the race. I took my time and cut the race off without cutting the hub.

This is why I like to do my own work. Mechanics are under a lot of pressure to hurry hurry hurry, so they will cut corners in order to finish quickly. It works fine when you drive the car out of his shop, but the damage has already been done and it shows its head a year or two later.

I still have my original front bearings at about 395K miles now. The rear bearings went bad about a year or two ago (maybe around 372K miles). I do not live in a place that snows or puts salt on the roads, so that might be part of the reason for the longevity.

Do you know what brand of bearing your mechanic used? There are some awful cheap ones out there. I used Timken, which is good. There's another one that actually supplies the OE, but I don't remember the brand name and it is a similar name to a cheap brand, so I get them confused. I think either Old Mechanic or Greasymechtech knows the brand, so you could ask them.