How long can you drive car once you start hearing that a wheel bearing is making a whinning noise?
8 Answers
Not far at all! Need to fix ASAP.
Why wait? Waiting too long could end up costing you more.
I wouldn't be driving far on it.
You will make it 5 minutes before 5 minutes after it falls off.
I can guarantee it will fail at the most inconvenient place and time!
TheSubaruGuruBoston answered 7 years ago
STOP THE NOISE...I mean my fellow posters! Fully one third of the 2000+ Subies I've bought over the past dozen years had a noisy WB. The bearing is simply undersized for its app. Good news is that it's a bolt-in assy so no pressing required. Wear rate to failure can be as long as YEARS, with noise increasing slowly and linearly. If you noticed the light whine SLOWLY growing to a growl over awhile it's VERY unlikely that you'll suffer a catastrophic failure, so relax. But if you start to hear any sudden huge increase in noise, inc clunking, then get out there and shake the wheel with your arms to be sure it has no play, and get to a shop soon after. Note that driving on a noisy one will NOT cause peripheral damage. Note: ask your wrench to clean the ABS sensor while he/she is in there...and relax!
