Manual transmission. Noise is a hum that gets louder as speed increases, up to about 50 mph then gets softer. It seems to be coming from the left front under the HHR. Taken to independent shop (Firestone) and dealer, both found left rear hub bearing was bad. Firestone unable to align due to excessive bearing play. Hub bearing was replaced by dealer under power train warranty.

Noise was still there immediately after I picked up the car. Firestone aligned the car, didn't reproduce noise. Back to Firestone, better mechanic test drove and reproduced noise. Noise is coming from the TRANSMISSION inside a portion of the case between where the half-shafts go in.

Someone else had noticed a similar noise noted in a previous thread. Can anyone report on what happened with a repair of this problem? It should be covered under the power train warranty, but am I looking at a replacement transmission? Should I have them change out clutch parts if they have to pull the tranny?

 

Dealer says the transmission is fine. The noise is coming from the right front hub bearing. They replaced it today under the power train warranty. The other (nasty) local dealer recently replaced the left rear hub bearing.

My HHR has always had a little brake shimmy since I got it 1 1/2 years ago. Now I wonder whether the hub bearing had something to do with it. Once it's fixed, will this get rid of the shimmy, or are the rotors already warped as the effect, not the cause? If the shimmy continues, is this a situation where if I had previously replaced the rotors and pads (before the hub was found to be worn), the shimmy would have returned?

EDIT - Bearing replacement DID make the brake shimmy go away! So, bearing has been bad for the whole 1 1/2 years I have owned the car!

 

The attack of the crappy hub bearings.... I struggle with that situation too about 1 and half year...