Wheel bearing question

[StinkyFinch]

Hi, recently started getting a bit of a whirring sound at around 30mph, and even when coasting , so it's sounding like a wheel bearing issue. I've read that jacking the car up and spinning the wheels individually will give me a good ideA of which one is damaged, is this a sufficient test? Also once located, is it safe to simply change one wheel bearing (sorry don't know much about this thing yet)
I'm presuming the bearing may be damaged from when I buckled an alloy a few months ago and foolishly drove on it for a week or so ...
Any input welcome
cheers

 

[MartinR]

Spinning each wheel may or may not show up a duff bearing but may aswell give it a go. I would put my money on it being the one which had the impact which damaged the wheel.

And it is fine to change just the one bearing.

 

[Tony Hunter]

Front, rear??

Jack the car up, grab the wheel top and bottom and wiggle, you might find or feel some movement. Spinning them doesn't always work, unless really really bad.

 

[Bobby.]

Another test you can do is, go round a long sleeping corner to load up a wheel bearing if the noise becomes louder then that's your faulty bearing.

As for replacing, if its a rear your probably best of just doing the discs as they come with new sealed bearing an I would advise going for genuine as non genuine bearings can be really poor quality.

 

[Tony Hunter]

That's why I asked, front or rear.

 

[StinkyFinch]

It's at the front, and after trying a few things I've concluded it was the one i thought it would be (the one that got buckled), could a bearing also cause irregular outside tyre wear, or is it likely that I also threw the tracking out a bit on that particular wheel?

 

[pupster92]

irregular wear is going to be from when you buckled the wheel, it may have bent the bottom arm of the tie rod/ track road end (steering arm). Best to get it checked on a ramp by an allignment specialist. Hope this helps

 

[StinkyFinch]

Gonna get it looked at tomorrow; I changed the alloy i buckled, and also the front two tyres. I'm guessing it'll be the tracking that's caused wear to the outside.
Cheers everyone by the way

 

[Tony Hunter]

Get it checked, after you have had the bearing changed. This will need pressing out.