Grumbly Saxo back end

[Pillock]

Guys,Got an 'issue' with the Saxo that's been steadily getting worse over the past two weeks.It had a bit of vibration on the back end, sort of a constant grinding rather than what I'd call a typical droning bearing noise. Also, at lower speeds you can feel the back of the car lifting up and down - identically to what it was doing a couple of years back, when it turned out to be an egg-shaped tyre.However, now there's a really bad droning vibration throughout the whole car - far worse around a left-hand bend which to me suggests an offside wheel bearing. Could a wonky tyre put enough pressure on a bearing to make it give up?Also, it feels like a back brake is sticking..... like you're driving with the handbrake on a notch or two. If you roll to a halt, the car just "sticks" at the last moment instead of losing momentum uniformly, and the back end dips a little suggesting it was a rear brake that stopped the car. Would heat from a duff bearing mean it's time for new brakes too?Are rear bearings easy to do on them? On my VAG stuff it's always been a piece of wee, fronts are tricky but backs just grease up and slot in. Same idea?

[whitevanman]

these are bad for it, aparently its the rear bushes that go first, this then throws the bearing into a tantrum until it goes as well.....supposed to be a cow of a job, similiar to the pug 306 I beleive....

[Pillock]

Asshats. I shall stop planning to whomp a couple of bearings on it before breakfast in the morning then.Bloody Citroens.

[whitevanman]

Sorry...........

[Pillock]

Hehe, I'd rather know that it's a bitch of a job now - sat on my sofa in the warm - than tomorrow, sat in the slush with the car in bits cursing everything I can see in quite a vocal manner."Damn you, spring that fell out of somewhere. And damn you too, bearing that's not quite the same as the one the shop sold me. Damn you all.";)

[Station]

I once drove my Astra for a couple of months on a bad wheel bearing until I got it changed (when the noise became totally unbearable), my workmates said it sounded like a helicopter when it went driving by.

[Pillock]

Todays lesson is: Don't assume the worst.I've just had the tyre off and it's completely off-round. Even in the dark I could see it was absolutely shocking, so the spare has gone on and I'm going to go and give it a thrash, get it warmed through and see if I still think the bearing has shot it.I hope not, since it appears to be a beam-off job which is either three DIYers, or a £100+ garage affair.It was quite amusing having to wait till a car drove down the road, headlights illuminating my driveway, before I could line the wheel up with the hub to get the bolts in. Gotta love not having any daylight hours at home!

[Pillock]

Hmmmm. Seems I was thrown by two simultanious faults. Took the car out for a test, and the wobbly back end is gone but there's still a hell of a whiff of burning as I pull up at lights, and it feels like the brakes are just on a smidge. Took all the wheeltrims off and felt the wheels after a "70mph" run and the front offside wheel is really hot, the nearside and both rears are stone cold.So it still might be a bearing, but fronts are easier than rears. Or it could just be a sticky caliper.

[whitevanman]

I'd plump for the sticky caliper