I was on here years ago (2008-2012) and just recently bought a second HHR SS. My second one is pretty good shape but I have a road noise at low speed. 0 to 45 miles/hour it sounds like it is a 4WD lifted truck with 35" tires singing. I've read several topics on here to research the problem and it seems like most views that it is wheel bearing hubs and not tires causing the sound. Now my question is , is there a way to tell which wheel has the bad bearings ? Do I have to replace both fronts at the same time and hope you find the problem ? I can't tell if it is coming from the front of the car or the rear. The tires on it are in really good shape and I can not feel any cupping so I'm leaning towards what others have said on here. They are General tires.
Any help with information on locating the noise will be greatly appreciated ,

Thanks ,

Arch

 

Personally I tend to replace wheel bearings in pairs. they really are not that expensive to do that way, even if you have ABS {which the SS tend to have}

These newer vehicles have totally enclosed wheel bearings and you can not get them apart to service them without pretty well destroying them so, replacement is pretty much your only option.

When you do the front ones take a good look at the big rear bushing on your lower control arm, you will probably want to replace that pretty soon too.

 

You may be able to tell by jacking the car up and wiggling the wheel top and bottom. The acceptable end play is only .005", so if you can feel it........

Could also be the flex pipe.

If you can wait a week for parts, eBay will save you many $.

 

When you have to determine which is causing the issue so you can replace just the one, the easiest way is to go fast enough to get it making noise, then move the steering wheel back and forth.

In most occasions, you will hear the sound get louder/quieter as you load/unload the side that is bad.

The bearing noise should lessen when the side that's bad is under less load.

 

Thanks for all the tips !

 

Just a tip if you jack it up and do the wheel wiggling you should do it pretty aggressively; I mean go gorilla on that thing. A lot of times people don't pull too hard and they don't properly find the issue/hear the clunking noise.