When your wheel bearings start to hum does that mean they can go out at any time?

Question

I have a 92 explorer and I hear a humming noise in the front ( kinda like when you drive over those metal grate bridges you can see through but not as loud ). I start to hear the noise once i reach about 30mph and it gets slightly louder as i accelerate from there. All this leads me to believe the wheel bearings are going out. I understand its fairly cheap to fix, but im currently not working. I need to use the car to get to interviews and such in the meantime. Would it be ok to neglect replacing them for a little while until I can afford it or does the humming mean failure is imminent and could happen at any time?

Answer 1

It will probably be OK to drive it for a little while.  You can possibly tell how bad it is by jacking the vehicle up and wiggling the wheel, which will tell you if it's really loose or not.

You can usually tell what side it is by just steering left & right while driving.  If the noise is worse going left, its the right; worse going right means it's the left.  This is because there is more load on the side that's on the 'outside' of the turn.

Answer 2

The longer you wait the more it'll cost to fix.  If you just started hearing the noise then you'll probably be ok for a little while.  If it starts grinding you need to get it fixed immediately.  If you are even just a little bit mechanically inclined you can do it yourself.  Plenty of sites on the web to help you if you want to try it.