Thread: Is it my wheel bearing?

My tires have been messed up for a while, on saturday I was driving and my steering wheel started shaking much more (and louder), it almost sounded like the axle was bad, I looked at the tires in the front and the tread was splitting, I took the rims off of the back and put them on the front (those are better and dont shake) and then I took 2 of the 17"rims off of my other car and put them on the back

I drove the car again and it was still shaking but not as bad, the noise is still there, I jacked up the front end checked the axles they look good, I was able to rock the passenger wheel up, down, left, right slightly. Is that the wheel bearing? Or something else?

98 b14, with non-lsd trans

With the wheel securely mounted, if you can move it like that in relation to the steering knuckle and brake caliper, that's a bad wheel bearing. Or maybe the axle nut needs tightening, but that's usually going to cause the bearing to fail anyway.

the shaking has been getting worse over the past week, i checked it out yesterday the tire on the passenger side it looks like some of the belts have broken since i put it on the front of the car, i dont know if its related to the bearing or whatever is wrong

Yesterday I replaced the bushings for the steering rack they were almost gone, I re-checked the movement of the wheels and both of the front wheels seem to rock more side to side and only very slightly up down and diagonal, now I'm second guessing the bearing diagnosis

what else could it be tie rod ends? the steering rack and calipers seem to move with the wheel when I rock it side to side, but it does not feel like it should be that way

That does sound like a steering rack or inner/outer tie rod issue if they are moving with the wheel.

I guess the best way to diagnose what the problem is would be to take it to a tire place and ask for an estimate on what the problem is