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Still sounds like a wheel bearing. When you turn to the right you are alleviating pressure off the right side of the car, thus taking strain off the wheel bearing. If you hear a clicking or a thumping as you turned, then yes I would say you could have a bad CV joint. If you hear a clicking or thumping as you’re going straight down the road, then you KNOW for sure you have a bad CV joint (one that needs to replaced…yesterday!). But if it sounds like a wheel bearing, then goes away when you turn…it’s still a wheel bearing. Just jack the front end up and spin the wheel by hand (assuming the car is in neutral so the wheel can spin freely) and if you hear or feel any kind of resistance, it most likely is a wheel bearing.
There is a test that Eric also does, I’ll include the link here too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdRpnK5MGQ8
Best of luck to you!
Quoted From 3SheetsDiesel:
+1 on the bad wheel bearing. They’re simple to replace on those cars. Just get the brake caliper and bracket out of the way, pull the rotor off, remove the axle nut, unplug the ABS wire (at the connector, not at the bearing itself) and then remove the three bolts on the back side of the knuckle that hold the bearing in place. Bash the bearing with a hammer until it comes off. Clean the corrosion out of the knuckle and put some anti-seize in there. Slide the axle into the new bearing, put some blue Loc-tite on the bolts that hold the bearing to the knuckle and re-install everything.
I learned the hard way what happens if you don’t use Loc-tite on the bearing bolts. The will back out and fall off over time. I recommend using the blue Loc-tite so that you won’t need a torch if the bearing ever has to come back off for whatever the reason.
That’s good info on the loc-tite on those GM wheel bearing assemblies. Now I’m waiting on a couple comebacks on some side work I have done 🙁
I agree it does sound like a wheel bearing, if it were a CV joint you would hear it when you make tight turns at slow speeds, wheel bearing noises are heard at road speeds normally. Don’t rule out a tire issue however and perhaps rotate the tires just to see if the noise changes or goes away.
Thanks for posting the video JPSaxMan. You don’t have to stress about CV joint noises so much however unless you hear them when you’re driving straight ahead they can make noise for some time before they actually fail.
Another method I used when troubleshooting the front wheel bearings on my 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix was to jack the car up and put your hand on the coil spring while rotating the tire. It worked great, the bearing noises transmitted right into the spring and it was easy to tell the bearing was bad.
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