X5 Wheel Bearing

[youngricharduk]

Hi, Sorry if this is in the wrong forum. I've just bought a 2010 BMW X5 this week which after I've now managed to get it upto to motorway speeds it sounds like I need to replace the nearside front wheel bearing. Could anyone give a rough opinion of what I'm looking at labour wise to replace this? Thanks in advance

[mike_e]

I thought exactly the same with an Audi I bought for the wife. It had new tyres on the front and the dealer had cut corners and gone for the cheapest budget ones he could find. They sounded just like a rumbling bearing at 70mph. Does your X5 have new tyres by any chance?

[thatdude]

mike_e said:

I thought exactly the same with an Audi I bought for the wife. It had new tyres on the front and the dealer had cut corners and gone for the cheapest budget ones he could find. They sounded just like a rumbling bearing at 70mph. Does your X5 have new tyres by any chance?

Similarly, old tyres that have worn in an odd way can give a bad noise.

A worn bearing should be easy to diagnose though so it should be simple to determine if it's the bearing or something else.

[youngricharduk]

I got the car back from the garage who said the noise was caused by the front discs, so I've had both front discs and pads replaced for £300. The noise is still there however, it's definitely better then what it was but still an intermittent noise from the wheels especially when you lift off acceleration.

[Watchman]

Wheel bearing is easy to diagnose so if there's no movement when you grab the top and bottom of the wheel (when jacked up) then you're looking at something else.

I agree with those who suspect it's tyres.

[hellorent]

If you drive down the road & swerve from left to right does the noise alter ?

[youngricharduk]

hellorent said:

If you drive down the road & swerve from left to right does the noise alter ?

I'll try that but yes it seems to be worse when turning.

[youngricharduk]

Still no further forward in sorting this issue. Tried putting new tyres on but still making the same noise. It seems to get worse when turning left or right; even at slow speeds, I asked the garage to test drive it but they seem clueless tbh. Sometimes it sounds really bad, it's like a whoop whoop whoop noise which speeds up or slows down depending on the wheel rotation. My main concern is that if it isn't wheel bearing could it be differential related? Any help much appreciated

[Elliot2000]

Sounds like wheel bearings if when you load it up by turning whilst moving it gets louder.

You could remove fuse 92 in the boot (25amp one) which will stop the transfer case motor running and power will then only be sent to rear wheels - this will stop the front diff from being loaded up with drive from the gearbox and will only be freewheeling as the front wheels Are moving- might help to rule front diff out as the cause. Also, will drive nicer and be slightly better on economy, and will have less chance of front prop breaking and smashing the engine to bits as some seem to like doing. Obviously it will be more useless off road if that’s your thing