bearing

[wordfool]

I have a noise coming from the nearside of my Vauxhall Corsa, It is a whirring and I can not tell if it is front or back wheel making the noise. It makes the noise when i travel over 30mph, Is it the bearing and which one? Please help!

[woodchopper]

On an open road ( and nobody else about ) when you hear the noise turn the steering wheel to left ( a gentle swerve should do the trick ) if the noise increases when you go left it means there is more strain on the offside (right hand) bearings causing it to whine and if it occurs when you swerve right there is more strain on the nearside (left) bearings.
To determine wether it is the front or the rear bearings you'll just have to use your ears or better still get someone else in the back and get them to distinguish which one as you'll be busy driving.
Rear bearings ( less than �20 are easy to replace if you are competent enough ( i've done several on my own Corsa's) whereas the front bearings really need to be pressed in with a hydraulic press or something similar.

[woodchopper]

I should add it was always easy to identify a faulty bearing on the rear - on every one I changed there was a score/dent in the outer bearing shell.
The rear hub will need to be removed to see it - if you are not sure how to do it get a mech. head to have a look and sort it.

[JimmyK]

Much simpler and probably more likely to give a positive result on whether its front or rear is to jack up the car and spin the wheels, just as an MOT tester does.
There is a noticeable difference between a good bearing and a noisy life-expired one, a tired one sounds emits a definite rumble that is what turns into a whirring noise at speed.