Hello people, im new on here from 5 mins ago, i have a problem with my 1998 2.0 GLX Ford Mondeo, i am hearing a slight grinding from the front nearside.... im of the assumption that the tracking is off as its pulling to the left, also the outside wall of the tyre is about legal, ive gone to a known garage today, and the mechanic said its the wheel bearing is gone or going, he showed me that there is a bit of givewhen you wobble the wheel, this is true,,,, ive checked it myself, so i bought the bearing kit i need and went to my dads, ive took the wheel off and im staring at the caliper and brake disc, im looking at the nut for the bearing and it seems totally fine, although the disc itself is not situated properly, it can be wobbled ( i know it will do this when the wheel is off ) but even with the wheel on there is still the wobble/give, its only minor but its there all the same, i dont think its the bearings coz i get a wobble of the stearing when i brake from speed to 0 mph, not only this, but i was putting the wheel back on and one of the bolts has snapped off so now i have 3 bolts holding the wheel on, can any body help with any advice on what the problem is and the best approach of fixing it as inexpensive as possible.... thanks for any help, i do appreciate it loads, Dylan

Hi Dylan, you'll get more exposure if you posted this in the Mondeo sub-forum however I'll try and help as best as I can.

The symptoms you are describing sound, to me, a lot like a wheel bearing. Especially with the noise, and you mention that you can literally shake the wheel when the car is off the ground? That's classic wheel bearing play and they always do this on an MOT test to test for this problem.

What you are describing about the steering wheel shaking when braking sounds like warped discs, indeed if someone was to present that to me I would suspect warped brake discs before wheel bearings. However the only way warped discs can be checked is using a gauge which you attach and then you turn the discs measuing if they're warped by a little gauge - I can't think of the bloomin' name of the thing though

The brake disc has to move slightly to compensate for the movement of the pads on either side, at least that's what I would guess. I don't think this slight movement is anything to be concerned about.

Have you actually replaced the wheel bearing? I think it needs doing, if you can shake the wheel with your hands then imagine how much movement it has when on your vehicle at speed/braking. You need to replace that 4th nut too, are there studs or do the wheel bolts go straight through? I can't remember which setup it is on your Mondeo.

If there's studs you need to pull that stud out (use two nuts in unison), it sometimes works and I've pulled them out this way before.

Let us know how you get on, best of luck.

And if I've got some things wrong hopefully someone will be quick to correct me lol

Dan