My Tiburon runs at about 3k on interstate. I have heard this is normal, but it is loud! Theres a hum that happens on the highway that I assumed was the engine just running 3k. Could this actually be the wheel bearings? I have never heard a bad wheel bearing so I wasn't sure. There is no hum at city speeds just highway...

 

Never experienced a hum noise from a bad wheel bearing.....A BWB sounds more like crackle-pop-grind-crackle-pop-grind.

 

Mine started that way and progressed to rice krispies. But wheel bearings are easy enough to check: Jack the wheel up and grab the tire/rim see if there is any up-down motion in the hub. If you've never changed them it's probably not a bad time anyway.

 

Wheel bearings can be loud and have no play.



Does it get louder or quieter turning the steering wheel either way?

 

My last two cars that had wheel bearings fail, there were two obvious symptoms the same on both cars:



1) sounds like someone is riding on a dirt bike nearby. You go faster, motorcycle gets louder and the pitch changes. Road surface does not change the noise. This gets worse over time. Yes it is similar to the drone of the engine at highway speeds, but if you put your car in neutral the bearings will remain bad (and noisy)



2) One wheel *may* be notably harder to turn than the other when they are still on the car. These 2 bearings could BARELY be turned by hand once they were removed. Neither of these could be felt to wobble when the wheel was yanked on top-to-bottom. It seems like they would have to be literally starting to fall apart on an RD before the wheel could wobble when shaken by hand.

 

one thing to also do while driving is put car in neutral and see if the sound vanishes. If it does its most likely not a wheel bearing.