Humming noise when driving 2005 RIO

peterlo · 07-04-2008, 11:19 AM

I bought my 2005 KIA RIO in 2006. The mileage now is about 38000km. I always service my car at authorized KIA Service Stations with all the recommended service packages.

Since the beginning of the year, I noticed my car has a low humming noise when driving. I think it's not the Engine RPM rev noise as the pitch of the noise gets higher according to the speed of the car. However, since June 2008, the humming noise gets very loud that my friends thought I have installed a boom box. I have searched online and has found out that this is quite a common problem for Kia Rio. It is most probably a Hub Bearing problem which I found from this site:
KIA Rio Hub Bearing : New Auto Parts, Discount KIA Parts, Replacement KIA Rio : by DiscountAutoParts

Additionally, I found this page How do I replace the wheel bearings in a 2000 Kia Rio? - AutoTalk Forum which states that I quote "the bearings are 1) pressed in or 2) non replacable, as they are a solid piece hub assembly."

Is this true? Is Kia Rio a bad choice? Is there any chance that I can fix this problem? Except for this, I don't have any problems with my car.

Also, even though I have changed my car tires (all 4) end of May 2008, i don't think the problem comes from the tires as I heard the humming noise since the beginning of the year.

Please help.

robhynes · 07-04-2008, 03:06 PM

The humming could very well be bearings - but it's not recommended to do them yourself...

They are a cone and cup setup, they are replaceable but it's not easy and you need a special tool for preloading them and you'll need shims.