There are a few ways to tell- first look under the car inside the hub if you see oil or grease then the seal / bearing needs replacing - jack the wheel up and put a pipe in or under the rim and move the wheel, if there is any play then the bearings are worn or out of adjustment - spin the wheel and listen for grinding sounds if you hear grinding then fix it asap as the bearing is about to collapse. Take the car to a wof guy if you are not mechanically minded for a good inspection and I wouldnt recomend you replace them yourself if you dont know how.
philltauranga,
Sep 17, 9:25pm
Yes it is part of the wof inspection, if you have any doubts get it looked at. Once a wheel bearing starts grinding - which may be the noise he is hearing then it will collapse and put you in a very dangerous situation.What type of car!
richard198,
Sep 17, 9:58pm
It's not always easy to tell. I was aware of a faint noise relating to road speed for a while. I took it to two different "mechanics" saying I thought it was a wheel bearing issue. They both couldn't hear/feel what I was picking up. It was only when I instructed another mechanic to strip down the front wheel bearings, that a crumbling bearing was revealed!
philltauranga,
Sep 17, 10:03pm
Ok being a 4WD it may be a little bit harder for a inexperinced person to hear a grinding noise as you will be spinning the drive shafts aswell, but if you can, jack it up and move the wheel up and down (push on top of wheel pull on bottom then oppisite so you are shaking the wheel to and fro) by hand or with a pipe under the tyre or through the rim and feel any type of movement in the wheel relative to the car, (it will only be a very slight amount so look carefully.) However I would recomend you take it to wof inspector/mechanic for proper inspection.
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