Droning noise from the front offside

[sheepish]

Hi all,

I've got a 52 plate 1.8 LS, and as the title says, I'm getting a droning noise from the front offside wheel which is at it's worst at 50mph.

I thought it might be the bearing going so while I was at work today I got 'Er Indoors take it to the nearest Kwikfit (you know, let them diagnose it then phone around and get the work done cheaper elsewhere...), these gimps kept the car most of the day before phoning her and telling her it was road noise down to having 'cheap' tyres on the front, then offered to replace them for £175. Now, I've got Neo Neuton NT5000's on the front as recommended on this site, I've had 'em on for 3000 miles and they've been great... anyway, once 'Er Indoors had finished shouting at the boy behind the counter for wasting her time he reconed there was no play in the wheel, ball joints and suspension all looks ok, although I obviously have my doubts over this child skills with anything other than his eleventh finger...

Any ideas from the gather collective would be appreciated?

[John LE]

Due to the construction of the Vec C's wheel bearing they can drone like hell and show no signs of play.

The only way you can tell is by rotating the wheel and listening/feeling for grittyness. If you compare it with the other side then you'll know

[stevie16v]

Sounds like the bearing. Alot of modern cars don't have play when the bearing is failing, It's a safety feature to stop it detaching. You can get it plugged in and do a resistance check on the two front wheels, There will be a huge variation if one is failing. Last one i had was a mondeo, There was 53% of difference between the two. That aswell had no play, and everytime you plugged it in, It came up with a abs speed sensor fault, That was replaced first but to no avail New bearing sorted it

[sheepish]

Thank guys!

[Marc 100]

Definitely sounds like bearings as I had the same thing recently at around 50-60 mph.

I was sure it was the front driver's side, as on jacking it up it was noisy and I thought I felt play. Got that replaced and my mechanic said the old, removed bearing felt rough.

Unfortunately the resonance/whine was still there.

Got the passenger side replaced also and that sorted it.

I found LMF to be best on price incl delivery for the bearings. They supplied German aftermarket FAG and Topran bearing/hubs when I bought.