Sometimes, it doesn't hurt to be reminded. Today for instance, I was diagnosing a vibration and noise in the front end of my 94 Galant. Judging from the the feel through the steering wheel, I was leaning toward the outer CV joint on the driver's side. But.......it acted like a wheel bearing problem whenever I twitched the steering to the right while going down the road. When turned to the right momentarily, the noise and vibration completely went away. I was sure the noise was coming from the driver's side and I had already replace that hub bearing.

I was all set to go get a reconditioned half shaft, but I knew from experience that noises and vibration can travel all around a vehicle, making you thing they're coming from one side when they're actually coming from the opposite side. So I jacked the front end, removed the tires and blocked it up so I could run it with the wheels off. The screwdriver to the ear test revealed a scraping sound in the viciinity of the outer hub / CV joint area on the passenger's side. All the time I've been trying to pin this down, everything sounded like it was on the driver's side. I thought it still felt more like a CV joint through the steering wheel. Impulse said CV joint, but experience said it behaved like a bearing.

Experience and training win every time! Installed hub bearing, problem solved. I was fighting myself on this one, because I had myself talked into replacing the CV joint. Let this be a lesson to all, myself included.

Rule number 2; When it could possibly be one of two things, Replace the cheaper one first......:yes:

Correct.training and experiance.3 decades now as a dealer wrench.Had a 4x4 that growled and hummed like a rough bearing.He spent boo coo bucks replacing bearings thru out the vehicle elsewhere.
We roadtested the vehicle together.Sure enough..he duplicated the noise.Sounded much like chopped and cupped tires but they were new.I noticed that the noise changed with some wind shear.This a plow truck also.
Got back to the shop and the plastic inserts in the front of the boxed frame rails where removed when the plow was installed.Two pieces of foam rubber for testing eliminated the howl thru the frame rails and the noise was gone.
I have hundreds more I could share..some funny like when a customer stated i broke his steering column.Turns out he did not know he had a tilt wheel.I could go on for hours.lol.:D

I have hundreds more I could share..some funny like when a customer stated i broke his steering column.Turns out he did not know he had a tilt wheel.I could go on for hours.lol.:D

Now thats funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now thats funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scott..this one is a keeper in my roledex of life.
Performed a 4 wheel brake reline and reinstalled the bow tie emblem hub caps and released the vehicle to the owner.
He returned within the hour and insisted that i install his hub caps correctly.
He knows for sure that the bow tie emblem on all his hub caps were parallel to the road surface prior to me servicing his brakes.:sad: