Recently I've notices a weird noise coming from my front wheels. It sounds like a faint howl when moving, and maybe a slight grinding when going slow. It does it all the time, straight or turning. Does this sound like wheel bearings?

 

wheel bearing has a definite noise so I doubt its that it sounds more like a dust shield touching the rotor or worn pads, check the rotors don't have a ridge on the outers which could be touching ( worn rotors do that ) and when was the last time you serviced the breaks??

 

Sounds exactly like a wheel bearing(s).

 

well a wheel bearing has a slight groan on movement and gets louder with speed so in a straight line its prominent but going round turns at low speed one has to think and more info is required

 

Im putting my money on wheel bearing, but it could possibly be a sticking caliper which has warped your rotor and is now glazed which can cause a grinding against your pad i guess, but that noise would only get worse while braking. The noise of a wheel bearing when going bad varies depending on how badly it is worn. If it is the bearing, its bound to get much louder.

 

Interesting. I'm replacing my rear pads and rotors next week. But the sound seems to be coming from the front. The front breaks still have some life on them. It has been slowly getting louder though.. Coldn't hurt to just change the wheel bearings anyway right? I've got about 99k on the car.

 

i'm having the exact same noise from my front end. i think it might be the wheel bearing also. i get like a gear whine type sound, actually more of a gear howl when slowing down. it's the loudest between 40 mph and 20mph. i'm got 92k miles on the car, so i guess it wouldn't surprise me.

 

When I lowered my car, my dust shields started rubbing on the rotor and it made a metal on metal scraping sound (go figure). It grew faster/louder with speed and it sounded like a slow churn when I was driving slowly or braking.