[alextheonly]

A month ago I noticed an oscillating noise coming from the front when I'm driving. The noise would increase in frequency as the vehicle's speed increased. As the weeks went by the noise became more noticeable (it got louder). Today I switched the front tires to the rear and the rear tires to the front and the noise still remains, so I don't think it's a balanced tire issue. I also noticed that if I make a hard right turn, the oscillating noise would get louder substantially until I exit the corner. This makes me think that I have a bad front-left bearing as the noise loudens when turning to the right (which places a heavy load on the left). The noise does not get louder when turning to the left. What do you guys think?

Thanks for the help

 

[rav4system]

most likely a wheel bearing.....it passes 3 test....noise not changing when rotating tires...noise changes as speed increases and the biggest indicator is the noise changing when the direction of the vehicle changes...if mine was doing that i would be changing a wheel bearing for sure...

 

[alextheonly]

Is it safe to lift the front left tire off the ground and put the rav in drive so I can guarantee that it is the left wheel bearing? I'm worried if the 4wd will cause the vehicle to move while the front left is jacked up...

 

[Blogson]

Is it safe to lift the front left tire off the ground and put the rav in drive so I can guarantee that it is the left wheel bearing? I'm worried if the 4wd will cause the vehicle to move while the front left is jacked up...

To do that would not at all be safe, and according to your profile you have a 4WD RAV which would further compound the safety issue.

 

[alextheonly]

I was pretty confident that the left-front bearing needed replacing so I went ahead and bought a new wheel bearing. Took about an hour to replacr because of the axle nut, but everything went fine. Went for a test drive and it feels like I'm driving a different vehicle, its very quiet in the cabin. Guess I got used to the noise the old bearing was making?

I purchased an economy option wheel bearing that goes by the brand "Auto Extra". I couldn't find any reviews specific to the model I bought but other reviews basically state that this brand isn't very good. It has a one year warranty so if it goes bad within a year (hopefully not until another three years) I can always exchange it... However I probably wouldn't get that brand again if that's the case.

 

[rav4system]

Glad you got it fixed...parts like that I only buy good stuff...sometimes you get lucky tho...

 

[alextheonly]

I'm just surprised the bearing went bad so early... About two weeks ago I just hit 101000 km which is about 63K miles rounded. That seems like a fairly early distance for a wheel bearing to go bad, I mean we're talking about a Toyota here. Maybe I just got bad luck with this one bearing and the other three will last longer.

 

[33k!]

I replace two on the front around 80,000 miles I think this is definitely a design issue on the early 4.3 models mine was a v6 and I'm guessing it was related to the torque because the car has too much power

 

[Dr. Dyno]

...parts like that I only buy good stuff...

By "good stuff" do you mean the most expensive? Could that just mean the same part with a higher markup?

 

[rav4system]

I replace two on the front around 80,000 miles I think this is definitely a design issue on the early 4.3 models mine was a v6 and I'm guessing it was related to the torque because the car has too much power

Too much power?

 

[rav4system]

By "good stuff" do you mean the most expensive? Could that just mean the same part with a higher markup?

Good stuff is not cheap crap....so if I have a choice between Moog and drive works I'm picking Moog....many times the same manufacturer will provide the same part to many companies but for the most part it's not too hard to figure out the cheap crap from the good stuff...and the good stuff is not always the most expensive...