Now I'm feeling a right numpty! Things that I'd done years back (like checking conical wheel bearings) have been consigned to mental history. If ONLY I'd jacked the car up and checked for bearing wear I might not feel such a plonker now.

Now that theirs no road test on the M.O.T. they didn't pick up on it either, or as the play was relatively light didn't consider it of any consequence! Having said that the main culprit for the noise was the offside bearing which displayed next to no play anyway.

Don't feel a numpty, some years ago, well quite a few actually, we changed the noisy front wheel bearing on my mates Pug 305, no noise or rumble when jacked up and spun up so we changed whichever side it was that was noisy on corners.

Unfortunately the noise still there, the inner race of the opposite side was the culprit, but there was no way of knowing because unlike good old taper bearings you can't dismantle easily nor inspect or regrease for everlasting life, with these sealed units the bearing is usually destroyed by the time you've got the thing out anyway...course its even worse now with sealed hubs, next it'll be complete throwaway d*****ines.

Edited by gordonbennet on 22/10/2016 at 00:46