The choice of piston seal is decided by the way in which the cylinder operates. For a cylinder which is exclusively single-acting, capable of sealing dynamic pressure from one side (unidirectional), it is always best to choose the type of seal designed to provide optimum sealing qualities for single-acting functions.

Piston seals, both single and double-acting, can be designed for and used with integrated or separate back-up rings and guide rings.

Bad wheel bearing noiseat low speeds

The Hallite 15 rod seal has been well proven in many applications requiring a compact, low friction seal to work efficiently both at low and high pressures.

The Hallite 71 single acting fluid seal assembly consists of the standard Hallite 18 single acting fluid seal and the Hallite 62 L shaped bearing ring (wear ring).

This twin lip, asymmetric, single-acting piston seal with precision trimmed sealing lips provides a dry sealing solution in light and medium-duty application. The sealing lips are trimmed at an angle to give optimal rod sealing performance.

Sometimes these “whats making the noise” type problems have been resolved by using the “magic ear” (microphones that clamp on components).

Frontwheel bearing noisesymptoms

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How to tell whichwheel bearingisbadwhile driving

The Hallite 512 is a standard profile loaded U-cup with precision trimmed sealing lips manufactured in either a polyurethane or polyester shell energised by a high quality O-ring and designed for common North American grooves. The precision trimmed sealing lips ensure optimum sealing action.

I have a '95 Caravan, FWD It has what I would call classic wheel bearing noise. Get it up to 45mph or so and it sounds like there’s a small engine airplane flying along with you. Turn left the noise goes away. Turn right, the noise gets worse. It sounds to me like it is in the front. (This is noise only - it doesn’t come with any vibration). Both rears had some contamination, a little play and a little noise so I just went ahead and replaced those - not having high hopes that that was the source of the noise because they were bad, but not that bad. The problem is that neither of the fronts show any signs of a bad bearing upon inspection. There is no play in the wheels, and they aren’t noisy when you spin them. Nothing is loose or rubbing. The tires are in VGC, and I moved them around with no change. The fronts bearings are the sealed hub type, and expensive, so I’m not going to replace them on a guess. The van has 217K on it & the fronts were done at some point, but it was so long ago I can’t remember - i.e. they could be due. But what else would act this way? And what might be the best way to find out?

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A former co-worker did a front brake job on a mid '90s Buick LeSabre, including replacing the rubber caliper bushings. He forgot to install one of the bushings and sent the car out the door. Needless to say, the customer experienced a loud clunk every time she stepped on the brakes, so she took it to a Buick dealership, which used a “chassis ear” to find the glaringly obvious problem. They charged the customer $120 per hour to use the “chassis ear” on the car for two hours, then charged $130 to install a $2 bushing in the caliper (a five minute job). How they missed that problem installing the microphones is beyond me, why they had to test drive the car for two hours is even further beyond me, and why the customer didn’t bring the car right back to us is also beyond me, but not as much as this tale of either inordinate ignorance on the dealership’s part, or a complete and utter ripoff. All told, we had to reimburse the customer about $400 to have the Buick dealership perform a diagnosis that any reasonable mechanic could have diagnosed in the parking lot and fixed in ten minutes for $20 or less.

It’s possible to have tight wheel bearings that do not make noise when the wheels are off the ground. Apply the weight to them and it’s a different matter.

Wheel bearingreplacement cost

The Hallite 513 is a standard profile loaded U-cup with precision trimmed sealing lips manufactured in either a polyurethane or polyester shell energised by a high quality O-ring and designed for common North American grooves.

Bad wheel bearinghummingnoise

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Manufactured in Hallite’s high performance polyurethane Hythane® 181, Hallite 656 is an extremely flexible seal making installation easy.

I had no idea that a “magic ear” was a thing - though I’d considered a low tech equivalent - just running a long piece of vacuum hose out & under attached to my stethoscope. I guess its not as nuts as I thought.

One way to check for rough bearings is, with the tire off the ground, place your hand on the strut spring. Now slowly rotate the tire. If the bearing is rough, it sometimes can be felt in strut spring.

The Hallite 511 is a standard profile loaded U-cup with precision trimmed sealing lips manufactured in either a polyurethane or polyester shell energised by a high quality O-ring and designed for common North American square grooves.

Bad wheel bearing noisewhile driving

A piston design where two single-acting seals on the piston for a double-acting cylinder are used can easily give rise to a breakdown. The reason is that a very high pressure can be trapped between the seals.

Sorry oldschool - I thought my initial mention of it spoke for itself. I should have added that I am going to rig up a chunk of hose to my stethoscope.

I tried my best to look at all of the suggestions here - and even did ridiculous things with a piece of hose & zip ties while test driving (the poor man’s “magic ear”/extended stethoscope). In the end I couldn’t actually verify for certain that it was the bearing.

I’m not saying that’s what wrong with your’s, but at 217K it’s worth taking a look at. Those mounts could be worn out or breaking down.

Wheel bearing noisewhen driving

The Hallite P16 is a single-acting, o-ring energized, low-friction piston seal especially useful where smooth movement and location accuracy is required. The P16 design is based on the very successful R16 rod-seal design which has been proven in the market to be an excellent seal.

I’ve heard of the “magic ear,” but never heard it called that. It’s referred to as a “chassis ear” by a lot of mechanics. I’ve never used one, but I have a story.

The best sealing capacity of a double-acting cylinder, capable of sealing dynamic pressure from both sides (bidirectional), is achieved by choosing a double-acting seal.

The Hallite 601 high-performance, general purpose, single-acting U-ring rod or piston seal is designed to provide a dry sealing solution in light and medium-duty applications and manufactured in Hythane® 181, Hallite’s high-performance polyurethane, for easy installation and excellent low temperature performance.

Bad wheel bearing noisewhen accelerating

The Hallite 606 single-acting, single lip asymmetric piston seal is designed with precision trimmed sealing lips to provide effective bore sealing in light and medium-duty applications. The seal can be considered for use in heavy-duty applications when used with a suitable full depth back-up ring.

Have you checked the CV joints for problems? They typically pop and click when they go bad, but they can also make roaring sounds.

It would respond to steering the way your’s does. I didn’t argue when they decided to replace the bearing. They were nice about it when that didn’t fix the problem and worked with me on the total repair bill when they aligned the engine and the noise stopped. I guess a mount was not isolating the engine and its vibration from the vehicle’s (Dodge Sedan) body.

Hallite’s 656 is an asymmetric single acting piston seal. Similar in design to the Hallite 621 rod seal, Hallite’s 656 offers excellent sealing in light, medium and heavy duty single acting applications.

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I’ve experienced front bearing failure and noise that could not be felt by spinning the unloaded wheel or rocking the wheel at the 0/180 position. It made plenty of noise going down the road, though.

Hallite offers a wide range of piston seals that provide the ultimate in leakage control. Piston seals are usually manufactured in our high performance polyurethane Hythane® 181, Hallprene® rubber/fabric composite or polyester elastomer.

Over the years the Hallite 18 has shown itself to be an effective and robust seal in a wide variety of applications. Comprising a rubberised fabric U form base to which is bonded a rubber energiser, the seal section is pre-loaded by the housing when installed to ensure effective sealing at low pressure.