Wheel bearing noise disappearing?

[goodfizzgig]

I took my car to the mechanic today (out of town visiting my boyfriend) because I noticed a pretty loud humming whenever I tilted my wheel to the left while driving recently. I figured it was a wheel bearing going bad, and sure enough that's what the mechanics told me. However, they told me that both of my front bearings were bad (that one was noisy, and the other was loose). I could only afford to fix one today, and planned on doing the other one back home after I get paid again next week. I told them to fix whichever one was more of a safety issue at this point, so they fixed the loose one. I was told that I would still experience the same noise I had been previously experiencing since they didn't fix the noisy bearing.

However, on my way back to my boyfriend's I was no longer experiencing any of the humming, and it was pretty loud before, especially when I was only going 30 mph or so driving on the winding roads in his neighborhood. Is it possible for wheel bearing noise to just go quiet like that? Or is it more likely that the shop I was at was trying to scam me into paying for both when only one needed to be replaced?

 

[Yuriman]

I've never had a bearing become unloud before, only progressively louder. I'd be suspicious of the shop, might want to take it somewhere else for a second opinion.

 

[Slacker]

The loose one was humming, wheel bearing noises can sound like they're coming from different areas

 

[boomerang]

The loose one was humming, wheel bearing noises can sound like they're coming from different areas

Probably this. I crewed on a car racing team for a decade and during most of that time before he retired, the owner/driver was a field service engineer for a major automaker. He helped dealers solve problems with cars and trucks that they couldn't solve themselves.

He said that over time he developed a methodology for wheel bearing noises like this that worked the majority of the time. He would test drive the vehicle, turning, braking and accelerating while listening to the noise change until he was convinced which side it was on. Then, back at the shop, he would have them change the bearing on the opposite side.

Sharpest guy I've ever known when it comes to anything mechanical.

The problem with wheel bearing diagnosis is that if you hear the noise turning left, you suspect it's on the right because the weight has transferred to the right. But is the noise the result of additional load on the right or a lessened load on the left? It's like trying to diagnose brake shudder. Just had my wife's Malibu in to the dealer for brake shudder. The rear rotors don't look good. Smearing on the outer face of the left rotor and a ring of rust running in the middle of the outer face of the right rotor. Fronts look beautiful and I've rotated the tires so I know the lugs have been torqued properly.

The dealer says well, we suggest that all four rotors get turned but shudder usually comes from the fronts. I said try just the fronts and we'll go from there. The fronts fixed it. I was convinced it was the rears.