Front Wheel Bearing's, read this first..

• Stories of worn Front wheel bearing's seem to be appearing more and more frequently on the 'net. This seem's to be somewhat common, so I thought this would make a good DIY. Especially with the experience I had with my passenger side bearing. 
•  1st. The symptoms I experienced.. Noise. A loud low whirring sound that increased with the speed of the car. Independent of the speed of the engine. So loud I could no longer hear the engine to know when to shift, just had to watch the tach. The sound was misleading so I'd be revving the engine to 5k thinking I was still at 3k. Couldn't hear the engine at all. 
•  I followed the online bearing diagnosis procedures, but BE CAREFUL Here. The wheel bearings diagnosis instructions say to drive the car (nornal reasonable speed) and steer (normally) to the left and right. This will indicate a bad bearing if the sound changes as the vehicles weight shift's from one side to the other. Sure enough, my Aveo was indicating it had a bad wheel bearing, but which side? 
• Long story short, I also incorrectly determined that it was my drivers side, and I ended up replacing that bearing twice before I realized it was the passenger side. After all that ($$$ & Time) 
• Here's how I determined which side was giving me a problem.. I set the parking brake and blocked the wheels. Jacked up the drivers side of the car so the front wheel was off the ground by a few inches. Started the car, put it in first gear and carefully let out the clutch, being sure the car didn't move or stall. With the wheel spinning I listened for noise and didn't hear anything more than usual.( by this time I had the 2nd new bearing installed in this side, so that was the result I was hoping for. Then I *CAREFULLY* reached above the spinning wheel and put my fingers on a coil of the strut. I noticed a small mount of smooth vibration. 
•  I repeated the procedure on the passenger side and what do you know. Something didn't sound right. It wasn't making the loud sound it did when driving down the road, but there was definitely a light rough noise from this side of the car. A touch on the strut, and there was clearly a rough vibration. More than the other side. This is how I would diagnose which side was bad, if this happens again. 
• Once you have determined for sure, which side is bad, you might be interested in changing them out yourself. You can save money doing this, BUT..
• You'll need to buy a special tool. I found mine on Ebay for $30. Be sure your set is the one for the Aveo and includes all the parts. My tool is supposedly the right one, BUT...the 2004 manual I have indicates some procedures that didn't exist on my '06. I had to improvise on the spot. Good news is, I was able to get the job done without to much hassle, and this blog will help to sort out the same confusion you may encounter.. Sorry the pictures are rather blurry.
• On to the DIY..!   >>