Wheel Bearing Replacement?

hello, i have a 96 corolla (no abs) with about 140k miles. i have recently noticed a chirping noise coming from my front passenger side wheel. i took the wheel off and looked at the brakes/rotor/axle and everything looked ok. i talked to someone and was told that this sounded like my wheel bearing was going out and i should replace it. does this sound right?how can i check to see if this is indeed true? how much would this repair cost to have a mechanic do it? how difficult of a job is this for the home mechanic and how is it done?

jack up the car, hold onto the tire at 12 and 6 o'clock position and wiggle it to see if there's play, if so, then most likely it's your wheel bearing, if not, it's something else,

wheel bearing is not cheap and not easy, need tools i think...

Bad wheel bearings don't making"chirping noises" or other high pitched squeak type noises. They make a deeper growl, moan typenoise, usually only when cornering at 25-35 mph. In a few cases, they can also make a click-click-type noise audible only at low speeds.

The wheel bearings of a front wheel drive Corolla are sealed and will last 400,000+ miles if the car is not driven in an abusive, boy racer fashion, and not driven through badly flooded streets.

Odd noises front the front of the car are more usually due to faulty brake pad installation or the use of aftermarket brake pads and rotors or loose exhaust manifold parts (heat shields and so forth)

ideally they are intended to last so long but they do go bad...had mine replaced aleady...20k miles on 03corolla LE...under warranty tho

ok, i know that this post is old, but i just wanted to give anyone who has looked at this an update. i was pretty sure it wasnt the brakes, because i changed those not too long ago, and there was plenty of pad left on them. i handn't driven the car in a while (just bought an integra) and because i havent had the time to really look at it, so i finally did as 03toyola suggested last week. i wiggled the wheel back and forth while it was on jackstands, and there was quite a bit of play there. also while i was down there i noticed my driveaxle was leaking grease from the crimp on the outer cv boot. well i had this replaced a while back, and it was still under warranty, so i decided to change it out also, while i was taking a look at my wheel bearing. when i had the whole thing taken apart, it turns out that the jerk who replaced my cv joint last time didnt properly torque down the spindle nut, and as a result the both the inner and outer race were loose. if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. the bearings still looked good, so i just cleaned them out and repacked them with grease, put on my new driveaxle, torqued it down properly, and now it runs like a champ!

thank you to those who posted. it really helped me out! except for paul's condescending and useless remarks everyone was polite and helpful!