How serious is a noisy wheel bearing

[obi_waynne]

The rear wheel bearing on my car is starting to whine. It's annoying me more than anything else.

Do I get it sorted before the holidays start or sometime in the new year?

 

[Lunchmoney]

Eliminating the obvious; have you checked your tyres for bald patches? I understand that will generate a similar noise. That might be a more immediate problem.
However if it a bearing then it will probably be ok for another couple of weeks.

 

[Lunchmoney]

Did you get it sorted?

 

[obi_waynne]

I did, £70 including fitting. It was pretty bad when they took it off. They are usually quite stable even when noisy but there is a risk of them breaking and either locking up the wheel or just sheering off altogether so it's best not to ignore it but you get plenty of warning through the noise