Ed Hall Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 I'm getting a constant hum that is coming from the front end of my '93 Allante. I start to hear it at about 30 mph and it gets fairly loud and can be felt through the steering wheel at about 60 mph. I haven't tried driving any faster than that. The noise becomes higher pitch as the speed increases. I drove the car about a 100 miles this morning and it didn't seem to get any worse but it doesn't sound good either. It gets louder when going around a left turn and becomes quiet when going around a right turn. Does it sound like the passenger side wheel bearing? This is the side that slid into the curb when the car was struck on the drivers side fender. If possible, I'm going to try to find a hood, fender and bumper cover to fix this car and save my 87 from being sacrificed. So far, the junk yards I've called want the price of gold for these items. My best bet may be E-bay but it could be a while. It doesn't quite make sense to me to pay more for these 3 items than what I could sell my '87 for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Ed, is this the one that was in the accident? If I recall you had it aligned and there was some issue regarding a bent strut? To me 30 MPH is too low to begin experiencing a hub bearing problem, mine starts roaring at highway speeds. Now its entirely possible that yours is damaged badly and the noise is starting at a lower speed. That you can change the pitch turning right and left certainly sounds like a hub bearing. Have you checked the tires for sawtooth tread? I will say this, when my LF ball joint was bad, it allowed my LF tire to squat out at the bottom putting a lot of stress on the hub bearing and it moaned at a lower speed with the bad ball joint, did the alignment come out ok? Is it possible that the bent strut is throwing the axle out of line? Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Hall Posted February 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Thanks for the reply. Yes, this is the one that was in the accident. The bent strut is preventing me from getting the camber correct. Right now, it is sitting at probably a positive 1.5 degree camber (Top of tire sticks out farther than bottom). An untrained eye looking at it would never notice. Wonder if this is enough to upset things. Hmm, maybe I should try straightening the strut before throwing money into parts. I just aligned it for toe. It drives straight and does not pull. The tires are smooth and don't have sawtooth tread. While driving down the freeway, I also tried putting the car in neutral to see if the intensity of the noise would change but it has no effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 I would get the geometry in order before I started replacing hub bearings, you might have to replace it in the long run anyway but I would wait till I could get the alignment AOK. The additional force created by bad camber positive or negative I think is enough to cause noise. It certainly sounds like a bearing and you may change it in the long run, it may have been damaged from the accident and misalignment. I would not be comfortable replacing the hub while the strut was bent. I am a little confuses as to how the strut could be bent so that it could be bent back. If it was bent, it might make sense pulling it and replacing the strut and strut mount. Look at the strut tower to see if its damaged. Maybe the strut mount is bent? Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Ed, is this the one that was in the accident? If I recall you had it aligned and there was some issue regarding a bent strut? To me 30 MPH is too low to begin experiencing a hub bearing problem, mine starts roaring at highway speeds. Now its entirely possible that yours is damaged badly and the noise is starting at a lower speed. That you can change the pitch turning right and left certainly sounds like a hub bearing. Have you checked the tires for sawtooth tread? I will say this, when my LF ball joint was bad, it allowed my LF tire to squat out at the bottom putting a lot of stress on the hub bearing and it moaned at a lower speed with the bad ball joint, did the alignment come out ok? Is it possible that the bent strut is throwing the axle out of line? Mike, I could hear my bad bearing even at 15-20 MPH. They act differently. I would definitely eliminate the passanger side hub bearing first. The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Adallak, I agree with what you are saying that it could be a hub bearing if it is bad enough, however, if Ed has a bent strut and his camber is out I would rather wait for that to be fixed first and the car is in alignment, so that the new hub is not damaged from the strut problem. Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Hall Posted February 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 The strut shaft is what is bent. I was thinking that I could put it in a press and bend it back as closely as possible. Don't know if it'll work, but it might be worth the try at $500 per strut. It is not bent that far but it is enough to not allow me enough adjustment to get the camber exactly correct. I did go ahead and order a bearing/hub assembly. I think that there is a strong possibility that it is bad. When it slid into the curb, the impact was big enough to cut a hole into the tire sidewall. I'll take a look at the strut mount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Adallak, I agree with what you are saying that it could be a hub bearing if it is bad enough, however, if Ed has a bent strut and his camber is out I would rather wait for that to be fixed first and the car is in alignment, so that the new hub is not damaged from the strut problem. Makes sense Mike. I would also try to contact the previous owner and ask about the noise. If the noise was there before the accident, chances are it is the bearing. The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Hall Posted February 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Another thing I could try out is enlarging the adjustment hole on the strut so that I can correct the camber. If the noise goes away, then I will know that it is not the bearing. Of course, this would change the tow and I would have to readjust that as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 Adallak, I agree with what you are saying that it could be a hub bearing if it is bad enough, however, if Ed has a bent strut and his camber is out I would rather wait for that to be fixed first and the car is in alignment, so that the new hub is not damaged from the strut problem. Makes sense Mike. I would also try to contact the previous owner and ask about the noise. If the noise was there before the accident, chances are it is the bearing. True Adallak Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 Another thing I could try out is enlarging the adjustment hole on the strut so that I can correct the camber. If the noise goes away, then I will know that it is not the bearing. Of course, this would change the tow and I would have to readjust that as well. Ed, Just another example how tricky are these bearings... I suspected the driver side hub bearing was bad. I did not replace it, but instead just rotated it some 120 deg. to see if it would affect anything. Guess what? I noticed the noise pattern changed when I made a few zig-zags. Now I knew it was that bearing for sure. The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Hall Posted March 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2006 Fixed!! It was the bearing. It took me about 2 1/2 hrs. to do the job. I did a test drive and got it up to 90 mph (faster than I've driven for a long time) and no noise. The car drives likes a dream but looks pretty dreadful with the front end damage (nobody will steal it this way). One really handy tool that made the job easier was a Harbor Freight electric impact wrench that hooks up to the cigarette lighter. It also works great for removing wheel nuts so it is one of those tools I'll keep in the trunk of my car just in case. I think it would have enough power to remove head bolts too. Thanks for all the help. This board is great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted March 4, 2006 Report Share Posted March 4, 2006 Glad you got it fixed! Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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