That was it!

Finally changed both front hub assemblies in my '06 Vue...I had mentioned in
a previous post a while back that I was having a snow tire sound in the
front, and thought my it was my tires, as I have 53K on the car with the
original tires and brakes. I thought that it was the ties being near end of
life that was making the noise when somebody told me that it was probably
the bearings. They were right! New bearings and the car rides like new
again. I can't believe I had to change the bearings before the tires or
brakes. What the hell is up with that?!?! Lot of corrosion on the drivers
side. You could feel the assy was gritty. I figured that as mine is a 4
cyl 5-speed, it has less weight than the V6 AWD, mine would last
longer...*sigh* - guess not.....


Anyway -

Getting both bearings done at dealer = $800+
Getting both bearings done at private garage = ~$600

Bought Timken bearings online @ $111 each + $15 shipping and handling.
Changed both in 1-1/2 hours with help of brother in law = $350 total parts
and dinner [Took him and our wives out to dinner to say thanks ]

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

IYM

 

I have been having some strange front end noise problems on my '07 Vue. At
first I thought it was break squeal, but it has more of a high pitched
"rubbing-rubber" sound that changes with speed. As expected, it starts up at
random interval, so I haven't been by the dealer to take it in when it's
doing it.
Did you ever hear a "squeal" type sound before you changed the bearings?

Thanks,
Steve

 

No - No squeal. If I drove at 20mph, there was no discernable sound. Once
I got over 25 you could start hearing a faint low pitch tone like you were
driving with snow or knobby tires. This pitch got progressively higher the
faster you drove. I had also started to get a slight shake at about 75mph.
Even after speculating the problem was the bearings, I thought this to be
associated with the tires mileage/balancing issue, however after changing
the bearing hubs, the shake is gone and it rides like new. How many miles
are on your '07? My main complaint is that bearings just should not go that
quick. I've never done bearings on any car of mine that didn't have close
to 200K miles on it. If your still under warranty, stand up to your dealer
about it. If your close to the end of your warranty, a lot of dealers will
nurse the issue along until your not covered.

IYM

 

IYM,

200K miles seems high to me... but I would imagine the lifespan depends on
the weight of the vehicle and the quality of the hub bearings that were
used.

I do regular service on 5 vehicles in my immediate family, two of which have
nearly 150,000 miles (neither of which has had the front bearings replaced
yet) . To support your conclusion that this could be a design issue, I have
only needed to replace a front hub assembly/bearings on one of those 5
vehicles. Funny thing is that the first bearing went out on that vehicle
(to be clear it was not a GM product) at about 65K miles/7 years and the
other side needed replacement a year later - around 80K miles.

Bob

 

My 2003 Vue is on it's third set of bearings ... original until 32,000 ..
second set at 67,000 miles and I am now on the third set (currently 81,000
miles) I paid the $880.00 for the third set.