Left Rear Humming. . .

[SVXRide]

Strong suggestion -- remove the entire hub and take it to a machine shop to have the old bearing removed and the new one pressed in. Part of the "long term" bearing issue we see with SVXi is that the hub gets distorted the first time someone tries to replace the bearing (i.e., does it wrong) and then the car gets into "eats bearings" mode because the hub is fubared. Other point is to make sure you (if you know how to pack bearings) remove the shipping grease that the bearing comes in when new and pack it with high temp bearing grease. This is yet another area where bearing problems show up -- i.e., folks assuming that the shipping grease is actually bearing grease and installing the bearing right out of the box.
Best of luck.
-Bill
p.s. you are sure that it's a bearing and not your rear tire just making noise

[Crazy_pilot]

As Bill said, rotate your tires first. Someone just posted a thread about noise from the rear ending up being poorly worn tires. New tires aren't cheap, but it's cheaper than new bearings and then new tires.

I removed the hub myself. I didn't find it to be too hard. No special tools required (is a breaker bar a special tool? How about with a 3' extension on the end?) The most difficult and damn frustrating part for me was getting the parking brake retaining pins back in. Those damn little spings and caps are a PITA.

The main points: If your suspension hasn't been apart in a while, and/or you live in the rust belt, liquid wrench is you best friend, followed shortly by leverage.

[Back IN Black]

Originally Posted by Crazy_pilot

As Bill said, rotate your tires first. Someone just posted a thread about noise from the rear ending up being poorly worn tires. New tires aren't cheap, but it's cheaper than new bearings and then new tires.

I removed the hub myself. I didn't find it to be too hard. No special tools required (is a breaker bar a special tool? How about with a 3' extension on the end?) The most difficult and damn frustrating part for me was getting the parking brake retaining pins back in. Those damn little spings and caps are a PITA.

The main points: If your suspension hasn't been apart in a while, and/or you live in the rust belt, liquid wrench is you best friend, followed shortly by leverage.

Thank you. I am gonna try the tire thing. It has four newer tires but the rims are kinda pitted and that tire looses air on occasion. The tread looks good. It really sounds like a bearing. Once the weather breaks I'm gonna change it.