help! play in wheel

Hey,

for a while now i have had a strange drumming noise whilst turning left at any speed above about 20mph.

noise has gradually got worse - has started doing it when driving straight and sometimes when turning right now.

Two garages have looked at the car and both said they could not find fault..... One tried to deny that there was any noise at all!!

Other one said it could be a number of things and scared me off with a hefty price to trial and error fix the problem.

I'm thinking its probably a wheel bearing - well i'm hoping it is anyway!

Have just gone out to the car and put my hand on the top of the wheel and there is a good 1/2 inch of movement there!!! back and forth! if i put my hand on the sides of the wheel (9 - 3 position) i cant get any movement (it isnt jacked up - is on the ground)

only place i can feel movement at the moment is from the 12 oclock position....

Due to be having a baby in a weeks time and this has scared the hell out of me as i wont feel safe driving the car until i know its sorted!

any thoughts?

I'm fairly compatant with a set of spanners - just dont want to start replacing parts left right and centre till i know what it is really.

forgot to say - its the near side front wheel

Hi there,it looks like a wheel bearing started playing up a bit.Best bet is to jack the car up with wheel up in the air,spin it and start listening for humming/grinding noise.Moving it at 6.00 clock and quarter to 3 would help to diagnose bad bearing.If not check CV joints(inner and outer).Look for any grease or broken boot.It's not uncommon.Good luck!Please,don't forget to let us know!

with that amount of movement, whatever is broke, i would strongly advise that the car is not driven. a wheel bearing failing , which this may be about to do, can all end in tears. it could also be a suspension arm, so best to get someone to rock the wheel while you look and feel to see whats wrong. i know you may need the car, but its an accident waiting to happen and trying to deny any knowledge is futile now the world knows.