The faint wisp of a sound was there when I bought the car, but there were so many other issues to resolve that I haven’t traced it till now. To hear it, drive past another vehicle, or a wall, or a highway barrier. Once per revolution it makes the slight sound. It’s in the front left wheel. I’ve removed the bearings and bought replacements. Going out on a limb here, I’ll suggest that either the hub is not original, or the replacement parts are wrong sized or the bearings I found in the car were wrong in the first place.
I’m going to assume the front bearings that came with the car are correct.
Inner: FAG KL44649
Outer: FAG KLM11949
The kit I bought has what I assume to be Chinese after market parts and the outer bearing is not the same dimension. Honestly, the German bearings that came with the car look better than the new replacements that aren’t going to be replacements. But it is puzzling that the outer bearing dimension of the would be replacement is 4-5mm less.
I find no fault with my existing bearings, so they’ll get cleaned and greased and put back in service.
I think some new high temperature wheel bearing grease is appropriate to pack the bearings with anyway. Whatever unknown grease was in there, maybe it just needed repacked with new stuff.
The known parts cross reference for the hubs are Triumph Spitfire Mk 1 and GT6. So I bought for a spitfire.
*** Note: the evidence suggests that someone in the past upgraded the front end to GT6 spindles, hubs, and brakes. *** – 3/2018 ddf