The hub of a car wheel is the point where the tire and rim is mounted and attached to the steering mechanism. If the hub degrades and starts going bad, your car's performance will start to suffer. There are a few simple checks that you can perform on your wheel hub to see whether it is going bad or not. You won't need any special tools or training to run through the tests, so you can do them almost anywhere or any time.
Grip the wheel firmly at the very top and very bottom positions and try to shake the wheel. If the wheel moves and doesn't resist very much your hub may be bad.
Spin the wheel by hand without use of the engine. When you spin it you may feel friction and hear scraping. These are signs of a bad hub.
Check the hub after it has been used for 10 miles of driving. If the hub feels hot to the touch it may be bad. A good hub will feel only slightly warm while the wheel itself gets hot.
Drive on the wheel and pay attention to the behavior of the wheel. If you feel pulling during braking or lack of response when steering, the hub is not performing its job.
