Loud noise from rear of the car, Wheel bearing???

[90 Si Hatch]

well my girlfriend drives a 325i and there is a loud noise coming from the backend of her car and me and her dad are thinking that it is a "wheel bearing" but we aren't sure. so we took the wheel off and you can grab the roter and shake it back and forth. so what do yall think it could be? Thanks



Isaac

 

[Kirby]

You can't necessarily examine the wheel bearings by shaking the rotor on an E36. After you remove the wheel, you will (should) see a hex head screw between two of the lug holes. This screw secures the rotor to the axle. If that screw is loose or missing, the rotor will move.

Check that screw first. If it is tight and the rotor moves alot, there is a problem. Pull the rotor off and then check the movement of the axle. There is an expanding parking brake shoe assembly inside the rotor drum, it sometimes is challenging to remove the rotor.

 

[90 Si Hatch]

Yeah the Hex screw is still there but i dind't take time to see if it was loose, we just took the wheel off last night to see what we were getting into. We are going to get into to more tonight. Thanks for the replay.



Isaac!