strange noise
 

About a month and a half ago I was in a car accident where I hopped a curb and hit a sign, now there is a strange noise coming from my front right side (the side that got hit). What could it be? My shop keeps telling me that its my stillen bumper that's making the noise by rubbing up against my headlight but I know that's not it because I took it off and drove around without it and the noise was still there. My guess is that it could be my wheel bearings since the noise usually starts at around 50 mph and gets louder the faster I go. Also when I go over bumps in the road and this noise wasn't there before the accident.

Wheel bearing is possible.

:iagree:

Jack the car up and try jiggling the wheel. If you feel any play, you're probably right.

Only sounds that I know of that vary with speed are wheel bearings and tire noise (balance?).

From my experience, one should feel a balance problem. Wheel bearings can be noisy without feeling it.

:iagree: I had the wheel bearings go in an old car of mine. It was just a loud hum, like loud road noise from the tires. I also noticed reduced gas milage because of it.

Should i not be able to move the wheel at all or should there be a little play. Also going over a curb could have cracked them?

You shouldn't be able to move it at all. Of course, I'm not talking about the wheel moving on the a-arm, that will naturally move. I'm talking about it moving on the hub.

:iagree: Another way to tell is sometimes when the wheel bearing is going if you jerk the wheel slightly at speed (when you hear that noise) sometimes the noise will come and go as you take some pressure off the bearing... probably don't want to do that at 60+ though.

yah, probably wheel bearing. especially if it sounds like a DC10 with that errie sound.