bad wheel bearings vs un balanced rear tires

[mrsbeazley]

my bug ( this past week) seemed very noisy to me ( from the inside only while riding down the hwy) my hubby noticed it last night too, sort of a humming like noise , no vibration or shaking, no clunking... just humming, so we pulled the rears off last night, the wheel weights are there ( unsure if all are there ??) checked brakes , looks ok, we were not however able to get to the actual bearing ( didnt have a large enuf metric socket) so we greased around it , put tires back on and it seemed a little better ...
my question is ...........

where should we start first ... the tires are in ok shape, i do need new ones but have been waiting cus they really are not that bad.... or go right for the wheel bearings and change em

[Fowvay]

The wheel bearings come with the hub attached to them. You will need to pull the old hub and bearing off the stub axle and replace the assembly. It's not that easy with out proper equipment. My drivers side bearing went a couple thousand miles back but it didn't solve all the humming and vibration. The rest was from worn tires (still show 3/32) that just got noisy as they aged. All tires get noisier as they age. Each heat cycle ie... cold (sitting all night) to hot (driving for a few miles) ages the tires a bit more.

So by the time you get down to 4/32 or so the tires usually develop a whole symphony of noises and are less able to deal with rain blah blah blah. So ya. It could actually be both. Not sure how that's supposed to cheer you up but there it is.

[Skoobahead]

Just replaced both rear bearings. No more humming! It's not too difficult.

[Tesla]

Good going! What about rear axle bushings? Still want to replace them? I did mine a month ago and it was a mess!!! We had to melt them down all the way and then use dremel tool to cut the cylinder so we can slide it out. They were completely busted, and with the new ones riding is way less noisy ( no clonking ).
Good luck!