Bad Wheel Bearing? Bad Tires?
 

I recently changed wheels from stock 2004 15" Si wheels with a 195/60/15 tire to some new 17's with 205/40/17 tires. I notice quite a loud humming noise coming from the front wheel/s since i installed the new 17's. I noticed a little bit of a hum with the 15's, but with the 17's it's loud...especially between 40-60 km/h or when coming to a stop. Could this be a bad bearing/s or maybe bad tires? The car is a lowered 1993 Civic Si coupe with 117 000 original kms. Any input is appreciated. Thanks! :thumbup:

I had the same problem.....for me it was the driver's side wheel bearing. What shop did your lowering? My mechanic said the wheel bearing needs to be torqued, NOT air gunned!! Air gunning is tightening the bolt too tight, causing the wheel barring to get damaged! It's what happened to me! The thing is, I lowered my ride back in March/April, but didn't really notice the noise until Aug/Sept.

An easy way to test if it's your tires or wheel bearings is the jack the front of your ride and put it on jack stands so your two front wheels are off the ground. Then, put your car in gear and give it very little gas to get your wheels spinning. If you hear the noise still, chances are, it's the bearing(s). If not, you know it has to do with your tires.

most of the time a pooched wheel bering shows signs when theres a load on it like cornering or brakeing

I could even be the tires themselves. The different tread pattern could be noisier then the OEM tires. The Kumho 712 tires I had this past summer were very noisy compared to the stock tires and my car has nothing broken or worn out.

bad wheel bearing may coz any problem ?