i believe the front left wheel bearing on my 1994 rx7 is damaged. but not sure and would like to find out if anyone else has had this problem.

the frequency of the sound is related to the rate the wheel rotates. when slowly starting off, or slowing down, i could hear a metal cracking/grinding sound, which is fairly loud, coming from the front left side of the car. the faster i drive, the less i hear the sound. as i drive above 50mph, i don't hear the sound at all. also, at slow speed, when i press on the brake, the sound goes away, and comes right back after i release the brake.

i jacked that car up and turned the suspect wheel a few rotations, but don't hear anything. i suspect the bearing has to be under load for it to make a cracking sound.

i believe that the front wheel bearing is pressed into the rotor, which makes it hard to check.

if anyone has any knowledge of this, please help! please also give me an idea of how much a bearing would cost.

thank you!

 

its prob your brake pads and rotors dude...

i had the same problem and changed out my brakes pads. once i did that i changed out my rotors after i broke them in and it went away...

 

it appears that the lug nuts worked themselves loose!!...retightened them and the noise disappeared.

thanks for your response!