Humming after brake job

The car is humming, not me.

I just changed front and rear pads and rotors on my Mazda5, and also rotated the tires. After all that was done, I went on vacation and left the car behind. Come back, and when I drive it I notice a humming when turning slightly left, as in a lane change. I'm perplexed.

Thought it could just be rust on the discs because it sat, so I removed the wheels and sanded the rotors and sprayed with brake cleaner. Regreased the slides as well. The wheels spin by hand when the car is jacked up, with a little resistance. None of that fixed the high pitched humming noise, seems worse after driving a little bit.

Any ideas? I may rotate the tires once to see if that makes a difference. Only other thing is the wheel bearing, though I would think that would get worse with harder turns, which this doesn't seem to.

It doesn't remember the words? Do the pads have new shims or some of that anti squeak compound on them? That cures a lot of noises.

insert gratuitous hooker joke

Oddly the mazdas come with shims built into the pads themselves.

No brainer.... Its a Mazda. Front axle bearing or rear wheel bearing. I replaced a few hundred at my shops over the years.

Jack it up. Grab the left wheel and try to move it in all directions. Chances are its a bit loose. Now grab the right wheel and try to move it in all directions. Chances are the bearing will have massive play compared to the left.

New bearings all around.

No play in the wheels on either side.

". . . because, one is a snack cracker and. . . "

My Escort tires always sound louder after I rotate them. I went through all the stuff...bearings, bushings, struts, ball joints, rotors etc. Different tires and rims and the only difference I have noticed is that with the narrow factory sized 13" tires, it does NOT hum after rotating the tires.

Currently running 205/60 15 inch tires and they hum for a while and I get used to it. then it starts back up when I rotate them again. I try to rotate them with every oil change but notice the hum seems louder if I miss a few.

My current theory is that the factory specs just don't like bigger, wider tires and wear just a bit funny front to back.

Rotate the tires back and see if the hum goes away!?!

Bruce

or just figure out the song and sing along .... sorry have nothing offer other than tire noise

a bad wheel bearing will not always have any play. Usually don't. You most likely have a bad right front wheel bearing.

I used to have an Ansa exhaust on my Nissan 200SX and I found myself humming with the exhaust drone on long trips.....