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Wheel Bearings or Warped Rotor Chevy Caprice

Hi,

Would bad wheel bearings possibly cause pulsing while braking? At 40 mph with light braking I get a sharp wobble in the steering wheel. At 30 mph and below I get a cyclic pulsing while braking, like a warped rotor.

Above 40 mph, I also get the cyclic pulsing.

Starting about 4,000 miles ago I began to hear a droning sound from the front of the car when going down hills and applying the brakes, but not when braking on a flat surface. Could the droning sound be from worn bearings?

I jacked up both sides of the car, and did the "grab opposite sides of the tire and look for play" test (pushing top of the tire in, pulling bottom of tire out, and vice versa.) I found some play in both wheels, just barely perceptible, but enough to make a soft clunk sound when moving the wheel back and forth. It moved about the same amount whether I did the north-south test, or the east-west test, although I think I heard some suspension (ball joint?) noise on the east-west test.

Spinning the wheels resulted only in a smooth whishhhh sound from pads on rotor, I suppose, and they kept revolving for 7 or 8 revs before stopping. No clicking, grinding any other sound. And no pulsing! No grabbing at all.

Could the pulsing be from a bad bearing, or should I stick with the warped rotor theory?

Thanks

Reply to
abcd
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Usually, you can hear a bad bearing when rotating the tire. You can also see the runout in the rotor if you look closely. But the droning sound would make me curious enough to eyeball the bearings. Your bearing test was inadequate and suggests that the bearing may be out of adjustment at a minimum. So look at them, grease them, and adjust them.

Reply to
Al Bundy

If it is pulsating under braking, I think the odds are for a rotor warping problem.

Grabbing is not normally a problem with this malfunction.

You don't say which year your car is. If you have rear disks, or worn rear drums and shoes, you can be putting too much braking load on the front. Result can be heat and warping.

I somewhat doubt the bearing scenario, but you can adjust them and see if it buys you anything.

Reply to
<HLS

Reply to
Shep

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