ordered a set of f.a.g. rear wheel bearings. upon removal of my passenger rear wheel bearing (which was DEFINITELY TOAST) I found out then and there that there are two different sizes for the center bore (30mm and 32mm). and i was dismayed to realize i got the 32mm set when i needed the 30.
went to autozone who came to the rescue and gave me a proper sized bearing which went right in. used the new hardware from the new set (Which likely renders it non-returnable... fuck me)
but at long last, that noise is GONE and i'm driving along with no horrible never ending road noise! it was a moment like a wet dream. sounds like my tires and wheels are in pretty good shape, no super uneven ungulations from wear and the wheels may not be all bent to shit after all.
but of course, the quieter the car becomes the more you hear other things, particularly lots of rear end rattling/squeaking from both from the rear upper/lower/training arms (which all bushings are basically toast) as well as the entire rear interior.
so, got right to work, took apart the whole rear 'boot' area, found plenty of old washers, nuts and bolts around the spare tire area. then put Noico 3mm butyl sound deadening all over the primed bare metal trunk which should work a treat.
then found out the '60' portion of the 60/40 split rear seat had tons of rattles - some of it comes from the center pass through mechanism so i removed that from the rear seat (2 30mm star bolts) and will be attempting to dismantle that to find the source but its pretty tight with no screws to access, just hard brittle thin clips all around. but it rattles constantly when tapping it and moving it around
the other main thing with the '60' rear seat is apparently the center passenger seatbelt - needed to be pulled out a bit and clipped in to not shake around every time i punched the seat lol.
otherwise tidied up all the roadside tools and stuffed them in socks prior to putting them back in their places, and put towels around where the spare tire contacts the floor (and squeaks) prior to tightening it the fuck down.
put some 3m clearbra around the rear seat 'clip/hooks' to help keep those from squeaking incessantly, and now i'm gonna check if the rear hatch is tight - the bumpstops may need adjusting, the 'latch' might need tightening, and the inner taillights/clips may need something.
this is the beautiful, iterative process of a car guy in his natural habitat losing his mind