Bad wheel bearings can make a squeaking noise or a squealing noise and sometimes when the wheel bearing is really bad it may make a grinding sound as you go down the road.
You can check for a bad wheel bearing by jacking up your car or vehicle and spin the wheel around by hand and listen for any squeaking or squealing or grinding noises.
If you hear any of those noises then your wheel bearings could be bad.
Also rock the tire back and forth and side to side and if there's too much play in it then the wheel bearing is likely bad.
If the sound gets worse or louder the faster you go then it's likely the wheel bearing being bad.
A bad wheel bearing can make a loud humming noise and even a loud grinding noise.
If you notice you have a loud humming noise that starts getting louder the faster you drive then it could be the wheel bearings needing replaced.
The wheel bearings can also start making a grinding noise but if you hear a scraping noise then it's likely your brake pads wear indicator rubbing against the brake rotors which mean the brake pads need replaced.
But a loud humming noise or grinding noise could mean the wheel bearings or wheel bearing assembly needs replaced.
When my car was making a loud humming sound while driving it turned out to be the front wheel bearing going out.
The wheel bearing was a complete wheel bearing and hub assembly that had to be replaced all together becuase it was one piece.
As I drove the humming noise started getting worse and worse and louder and eventually it started making a grinding noise.
What I did was jack up the car and spin the wheel by hand and listen to see if I could hear that humming noise or loud grinding noise and I heard the humming noise and when spinning it faster I started hearing the grinding noise.
If it's the wheel bearings you need to replace the bearing assembly soon because it can cause an accident and damage your vehicle as well.
Another cause could be tire noise or road noise but I would check the bearings or have a shop check the bearings because that's the most common culprit of a car making a humming noise when driving.
If your car has over 100,000 miles on it then the bearings are likely the culprit.
Another cause could be a worn transmission or the CV joints being bad but they may also cause a clunking sound when you hit bumps.
If the tires are the cause of the humming noise while driving then it's usually caused by the tires tires chopping or cupping.
The wheels could need aligned because they could be out of alignment.