6G Celicas Forums

So I was driving today and my dad notice that the front end was making a weird sound. It gets worse as you speed up and its like a wa wa wa wa sound, thats abotu the best i can discribe it, because you can't really hear it from the driver side, so I'm thinking it has something to do with the front passenger wheel, possibly a wheel bearing.

The sound gets faster as you accelerate, and as you slow down it seems to slow down as well. Does anyone know what this could be? Any help is greatly appreciated, Thanks.

-Colin

brake pads or wheel bearing are the likely suspects. otherwise it could be your driveshaft.

a wa wa wa wa sound huh.. and theres no baby in the back seat? but seriously just jack up your car and wiggle to passenger wheel side 2 side and see if theres any play in it. i did my wheel bearing not long ago but it made more of a whining, grinding sound like metal on metal with no lube in it.

Yea thats how it sounded on my civic when my wheel bearing was gone so im not really sure what it is. So if there is play in the wheel, then its probably the wheel bearing?

Azian_advanced: If it was my break pads, all I would have to do is replace them right?

Thanks, Colin

well you'd first check if the metal clip indicatoron the pad is flat with the braking surface of the brake pad.. if not, it means you still have some life left on them. if so, then it's your brake pads squealing and they're rubbing against the brake rotors. if your brakes are good, wiggle the wheel from top to bottom and if there's even the smallest play, then it's probably the wheel bearings..

but since you say that when you slow down the sound is still there, i would bet it's your wheel bearing..

This post has been edited by azian_advanced: Apr 25, 2009 - 1:38 AM

Okay, thanks a lot I'm gunna check it out tonight.

so i jacked up my car and there is no play in either of the wheels, so I guess I'm just gunna check the brake pads next.

are your tires good?? cuz when my tires were balding (cuz of camber ) it was making the wa wa wa wa sound

Your brakes shouldn't make that type of sound, from what you're saying it sounds more like a bearing/tires.

Steer from side to side, if the noise changes it's most likely a wheel bearing. There doesn't have to be play for it to be bad.

If it doesn't change at all it definitely could be your tires.

I got it looked at by a buddy of mine who is a mechanic and he said it is the wheel bearing, but it is just starting to wear out, and thats why there is no play in teh wheel. He said its nothing i should worry abotu right now if the noise doesn't bug me, which it doesn't cause i always have my steroe loud anyways, and that i should let it get worse before i fix it. thanks for everyone who helped me out.

If you let it get worse it's more likely to damage your hub.
If you fix it now there's a good chance your hub is still good.

A new hub will run you over $100 US IIRC.

Basically, you should replace it now.

probably just dirt in your bearings. I had the same thing recently, it eventually went away after a couple of weeks. But be careful, I had my mechanic check my wheel to be sure (I'm not that good with cars), and he said it wasn't anything to worry about.

The wa wa wa sounds familiar. I had wa wa sounds on the driver side and when I slowed down the wa wa slowed down too. I mostly got the wa wa's from turning. I got rid of mine by changing the anti-roll bar bushings in the front, the ones on the crossmember (cheap only about 10 bucks each -need 2 of em. When you change em check that the bar is centered. The anit-roll bar can really cause a lot of noise havoc I wacked my driver side wheel real hard a while back jumping a curb in the middle of a turn and I think I pushing the bar to one side. Change em' anyway , bushings get old and my turning response really improved -all because the old bushings were elongated.

I wouldn't go by this logic because I had the same problem and thought it was my brakes. I let it get too bad and the other day my CV joint and wheel bearing left my car spectacularly at 90 mph. I would say to fix it as soon as you can.

"Spectacularly". In the superfluous and self-important words of Steven Weber (yeah, that DB from Wings - he has a blog and it SUX), that was said magnificently illustrative!

(glad you lived to tell the story!)

OP: I'd go ahead and get that taken care of. I've got a rear wheel hub if ya need one; it's used but it's in good condition.