What would cause a wheel bearing to go bad - 2004 Cadillac CTS

Steering wheel vibration is often caused by:

• Out of balance tires
• Bent wheels
• Bad wheel or CV bearings
• Loose suspension parts

"Road noise" is often caused by:

• Bad wheel bearings or bad CV joints

I suggest checking for all of these.

YEP BAD WHEEL BEARING WILL MAKE A ROARING LIKE NOISE WHILE IN MOTION.BAD WHEEL COULD PUT DRAG ON WHEEL WHICH CAUSE ABS LIGHT TO COME ON.YOUR WHEEL BEARING HAS THE WHEEL SPEED SENSOR BUILT INTO IT.SO IF WHEEL BEARING BAD THE WHEEL SPEED SENSOR PART OF ABS BRAKE SYSTEM WILL CAUSE ABS LIGHT TO COME ON IF WHEEL BEARING BAD.MAKE SURE FRONT BRAKE PADS INSTALLED CORRECTLY IF NOT. YOU WILL GET TERRIBLE WHEEL NOISE ALSO.

Please replace your wheel bearings before you drive it anymore. It could possibly cause the wheel to come off and go into your wheel well. Your wheel bearings are bad..Depending on how much you drove it after hearing it, you may need a new spindle also.

A bad bearing by creating drag could cause this problem, If so it would be easily detected. Jack the car up and turn the wheels by hand. Any wheel that does not turn smoothly and easily has either a bad bearing or the bearing is too tight.
Another cause is a soft tyre.
However I recommend that you check the alignment and suspension at the same time as your problem may have little to do with bearings.

Had the noise ever gone away after replacing the wheel bearing? Is it possible it's not a bad wheel bearing, but a bad tire? Or maybe it's a different tires wheel bearing? While i don't have the specs infront of me the axle nut is usually over 150 ft lbs.

A grinding from the hub sounds like a bad wheel bearing.

My guess is the original shim that came with the factory bearing and hub assembly was discarded and never installed on the new bearing (That does not come with a shim) causing the new bearing to fail.

You need a wheel bearing....don't drive it. Tow it to a dealer.! Ford wheel bearings are cheaper than aftermarket.
250-300 dollar fix.

from what it sounds like you have a wheel bearing going bad. in GM cars and trucks they have gone to a sealed wheel bearing in the bearing is the abs sensor, if the bearing is going bad it cause that problem. I would have your wheel bearings checked.

front wheel bearing is bad