Bearing,tires or something else?

[Tools]

06 EX XLT 4WD, tires are 35% left, recently developed a sound,only at 20 to 35 MPH, its like maybe if a front wheel bearing or a tire that makes a sound with each rotation,its not a scraping sound , more like a wrrrring sound, but not steady, sounded like left front wheel bearing so i changed that ,and the funny part is that then the sound went away for about 30 miles and it was back,i then swaped the tires from the front to the back, that didnt make any diference, wheel alignment is dead on,no play or wear on ball joints,tie rods or anywhere else, bearing i put in was made in China,anyone ever hear of a faulty bearing right out of the box? What are the chances that as soon as i changed the one then within 30 miles the other side goes, im leaning towards putting a new one on the if that dont fix it,put 4 new tires on, and if that dont fix it then im stumped!!!
Anyone out there that has had something like this? any other ideas?
Thanks.

 

[edwx]

Like you say, probably not the tires. Fwiw, Chinese bearings are really lousy. I'm not saying that yours was bad out of the box, but I've heard enough bad things about them. I used SKF bearings for my fronts. Canadian made using Timkin, USA, bearings. They were only $150 each. Definitely worth it. Not sure what your problem is, but sometimes the bearing noise can be deceiving as to which side it is...but like I say, just not sure if you have a bearing problem.

 

[Davidm53]

My 06 is making a similar noise, starts around 35-45 MPH. Does not change when turning, and no play in the Wbearings.
Had the tires rotated with no change, tires have less then 10,000 miles on them.
The tire guys could not pin point it, another shop is thinking its the left Wheel Bearing but was to iffy for me to spend the money.
Going to keep driving it for now until it gets worse.

 

[Tools]

Well today im going for another bearing,nothing else to try,except if i still hear the noise i will take the one off i put on the other day and see if it was faulty right out of the box, one correction,i said it was a bearing made in China when in fact it was made in Tiwan,and is a Moog .
Then if all that fails i will put on new tires, then if that dont work i will sell or trade it on a new GM pickup.Love the Explorer but it might have to go!

 

[Explorer_PL]

DO NOT USE CHINESE BEARINGS !!!!!

I went that route twice, never again.

First one failed after about 1000 miles, the guy from eBay send me a replacement that broke the moment I dropped the truck of the jack so really it lasted 0 miles.

Using Motorcraft/Timken since then.

I had same issue with rear one.

Not worth it.

The answer is yes - they can be bad out of the box.

 

[Tools]

What about Made in Tiwan by Moog,always thougt Moog was good!

 

[Flag Gibby]

Moog makes great ball joints, but I don't know about their bearings since I always buy Timken bearings when I can. The sound could be a stuck caliper dragging on a rotor. Slotted rotors make a similar kind of sound at low speeds and is especially noticeable if the windows are down.

 

[Explorer_PL]

Can't comment.

I never knew Moog makes bearings.

I thought they only make suspension components.

Probably I would stay away since that is not their primary product, as it is for Timken.

 

[Tools]

Update

Put the right side bearing in,Ex sounds like brand new again ,right side bearing had no play in it,but it sure was rough,left side had no play also,wasnt near as noisy as the right, funny thing when i changed the first one, it run silent for the first 20 miles or so,then the second one startd,all good now, only costed $280.00 each!!!!!!was easy to change,1/2 hour each side.

 

[edwx]

Nice going. You must live in a rust free zone!