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I have a strange noise that seems to be coming from the front left. Not sure if it's tyre noise or the bearings in the hub.

What's the easiest or best way to tell if the front wheel bearings/hub is on the way out?

Pretty sure that running 2.5 deg negative at the front isn't helping much!

If it's bearings/hub, anyone know where I can get quality replacements at a bargain price in Melbourne?

Thanks....

one way is to jack up the suspect corner and then by hand lift and kinda rock the wheel to see if you can feel excess amounts of play.
but... im no mechanic and unless you take of the wheel and put a dial indicator on the shaft and measure the bearing slop/clearance that way and compare it to what the recomended clearance is then im not sure of the postive or correct way.. i also think the mx5 hub bearings may have preload and not clearance as the torque settings are rather high from memmorie.. anyone else gont any ideas?

Another test is to jack up the car, hold the spring and spin the wheel. You should be able to feel the roughness of the stuffed bearing through the spring.

Front left seems to be the ones that goes Sab - pretty cheap to replace with a new unit from a bearing supplier like Consolidated Bearings - check the yellow pages. Should pay between $100-150 and is a 15 minute job as long as you've got the large socket for the hub nut.

Thanks guys.

Might jack up the car and do the wobble test. I'll also try the spin and hold springs test.

I've got the tools and know how to swap the hubs if that's the problem.

Any brands to look for or stay away from?

i thought you had to replace the whole hub, not just the bearings???????

4sfed5 wrote:i thought you had to replace the whole hub, not just the bearings???????

You thought correct!

The bearings are enclosed in the hub. All one piece. That's what makes them a bit more expensive than normal bearings.

29mm 6 point socket and a freakin' large breaker bar.

The hub nut is torqued to 150 ft-lbs minimum, which should give you an idea of how large a bar you'll need to get it undone. A new hub from Mazda is about $190.

It should wobble only if it is particularly stuffed. Mine went from no noise to wobbling like F$%K in one day at the track

Another test is if the noise goes away turning one way, but not the other (silence turning left = left bearing).

dodgy fitting tip #1

if your breaker bar is too small put a piece of pipe on the end of it, using different lengths of pipe you can have any length breaker you like


warning may cause damage to tools, job, fingers, and other extremeties

Thanks for the tips guys.

Bearings have checked out ok. No grinding noise or wobble to be found when checked off the ground.

I think it's road noise coming through the tyres. Yay!