Tire noise or wheel bearing?

New member here, and I sure could use some help...
2008 TRD Sport, 3" Toytec lift and 285/70/17 tires. Can anyone help me with telling the difference between tire noise and possibly a wheel bearing or other problem? Truck wasn't loud, but I went hunting one week (about 750 miles) and it starting getting loud. I just thought maybe I had reached the mileage for the tires to possibly start making noise. I had Wrangler Duratracs, they are known to get loud when wearing down, so I just put on Falken Wild Peak's. No change... My truck starts picking up a resonating/warbling sound at about 30MPH and continues to get louder with speed. 70MPH makes it real loud.... This has been going on for about three years, if it was a wheel bearing wouldn't it of blown by now??? Thanks in advance.

 

I'd venture a guess and say wheel bearing. My 09 TRD sport had a similar issue. When I purchased new tires, I mentioned the increased road noise with the old tires to the tech. He took it for a test drive and said the left front wheel bearing was bad.
I replaced both myself for about $250. I got the preassembled bearing and hub assemblies, so the entire job took about 90 minutes.
The old bearings felt a little gritty while spinning them around after I took them off the truck, but not so bad that I noticed a lot of play.

 

Seems like a bearing or two to me.

I saw some Detroit Axle ones on Amazon for $125 or so, not sure if they're good or not but I was thinking about trying them on my 07.

 

To satisfy yourself that it's not a wheel bearing. Jack up one front wheel. Put on gloves and spin the tire/wheel as fast as you can. Then jack up the other front wheel and repeat. There should be no sounds except possibly for the scraping of the disk brake on the rotor, which is normal. If you hear a constant grinding/roaring sound while the wheel is spinnning, your wheel bearings are shot.

 

Jack front wheels off ground. Grab and shake wheel at 12 and 6 o clock. If you have play it’s bad bearings.

 

I tried checking my wheels by lifting the truck and spinning the tire, and the bad bearing noise was very subtle. It was grittier than the good side, but not so bad that I would notice it while doing something like rotating the tires. I also did the grab the top and bottom shake and couldn't feel any wobble. My bearing was making noise at highway speeds for about a year before I replaced it.
I purchased Dorman bearing assemblies from Amazon. Replaced them 6 months ago, with no problems so far.

 

If it was tire noise, the sound would change whenever the pavement surface changes. If not, and it simply gets higher pitched with increased speed, it's most likely a bad wheel bearing.

 

I went through this on my 09 TRD. Thought it was the front, but both checked out ok. Switched tires, same. Turned out to be the drivers rear wheel bearing. As you it would start at 30mph and be loud to about 70. Chock the front tires, jack the rear off the ground, turn off traction control, and have somebody accelerate, listen both sides. That's how we found the noise. My seal was also leaking, don't know if it was before or after the bearing went bad and was moving around.

 

Depending on your mileage and what you have towed on my 09 the rear end internal bearings were whining as well as both rear wheel bearings at 105k. Fronts were starting to go too so did entire rear and fronts - quiet after that. The rear noise kind of creeps up you as a daily driver.

 

When I purchased mine I could hear noise and wasn't familiar with the truck. Found that when taking corners at highway speeds the noise would go away in certain cases, which to me pointed out the front wheel bearings. Switched them both out and it's quiet now.

 

Could be a bad needle bearing. Have you installed the ECGS bushing?

 

I second the 12/6 shake test and spin the wheel listening for noise. I had a very similar noise issue and it was the wheel bearings. I ordered these -- https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/wheel-bearings-hubs-press-service-4x4-prerunner-nsk-koyo.537080/ -- you'll see from the thread that there are a ton of TW members that have installed them. Now I'm hearing other noises I never heard before ... peeling back the layers ...

 

I would recommend buying from this TW member in the link over any inferior set from local or online vendors regardless of lifetime warranty that are associated with local stores. Replacing WB assembly is something I want to DIY install once by going with a more higher quality product.

 

I had a front wheel bearing go at 60k and a rear bearing go at 95k on my 2010. Front bearing never made a sound (or at least I never heard it over the Durtracs) until it was discovered during my annual inspection. Rear bearing made the typical noise for a few months until I had it replaced.

 

The "shake test" doesn't work until really, really.... late in the game. And that also diagnoses bad ball joints. If the sound goes away when turning, chances are it's a wheel bearing.

 

Yes, I did the ECGS bushing previously.

 

How bad is it to do the rear bearings? I don't think mine are making any noise now but I'm getting some noise from the front driver side. Seems like it would be fairly involved.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2nd-gen-rear-axle-bearing-diy.246760/
Front WB are more common for failures versus the rear. Failures tend to apear in the 80k-100k mileage range.

 

Great thread. Yeah after seeing that I think I'll leave the rears to a shop. I'm kinda tired of doing all my own repairs in my cluttered garage haha. But the fronts I definitely plan to do myself.

 

I have also noticed that a slow sweeping turn to the right makes the sound go away. It does not go away turning to the left.