The noise going away is an indication of the problem being on the opposite side you're turning, usually a wheel bearing or CV axle.

Personally, I don't replace stuff until they show signs of failure. I find that aftermarket parts are always a coin toss on if they'll survive 5 weeks or 5 years. I would leave your ball joints alone if you don't have any play in them.

 

Something obvious that I should've thought of earlier is that it's entirely possible that my cheap wheel spacers made out of Chinesium™ could be causing this issue. I'll pull them off during the week and see if that makes a difference

 

So funny thing is I replace all my wheel bearings going on a couple of weeks now and it’s night and day difference! I use parts geek as well. I also have a custom exhaust catback system and lemme tell you what I initially thought it was my causing the atrocious drone at a certain speed but that’s wasn’t the case it was the bearings causing the vibration .. so I replace the rear ones which come in a assembly so they were easy to replace .. but the front bearings are another story.. you have to press them out for both removing and installing and they can be a pain in that ass if you don’t know what you are doing.. you will need a slid hammer to take the wheel hub off that takes the out race of the bearings then you need to press it out some way.

 

Hint on installing new bearings inside something, unbox the bearings and put in your freezer the day before install.
With old bearings removed, check for rust, corrosion, sharp edges, etc. and fix now.
Thin smear of wheel bearing grease in bore and install new bearing.
Press is nice, old bearing as a driver is OK.

The cold shrinks the bearing a small bit allowing an easier assembly. The bearing warms quickly, so don't take an hour to install.

 

cheap wheel spacers made out of Chinesium™

The one thing I've learned is that widening track width will cause premature failure of wheel bearings, but if you're gonna do it, use hub-centric adapters and not spacers. Adapters are screwed onto the existing studs and provide their own studs to mount the wheel with. Just using a spacer plate (if it's above like 3mm) is liable to destroy your studs and/or lug nuts as the nuts no longer have enough material to grab on to.

 

I've got hub-centric adapters on the car, they were still pretty cheap and the quality of them is less than ideal

 

any other ideas of what the issue could be, other than a wheel bearing of course

I'm like 99% sure it's a wheel bearing that you've described, but an obnoxious drone can also result from tire issues (wear, damage, underinflation, overinflation..) and in rare/bad cases a wheel balance problem. It could theoretically also result from some types of diff damage.

So uh.. you could try borrowing wheels from some other car and seeing if the problem goes away and you could try to change your gearbox oil and check the old oil for excessive particulate - basically a transmission is going to shed some metal as it wears, but if it looks like a unicorn slurpie you've got problems.
However, the first thing you should do is to go get your car up on a lift and wiggle the wheels to check for play in the bearings. The wheels should not budge at all when wiggled.

 

I'm like 99% sure it's a wheel bearing that you've described, but an obnoxious drone can also result from tire issues (wear, damage, underinflation, overinflation..) and in rare/bad cases a wheel balance problem. It could theoretically also result from some types of diff damage.

So uh.. you could try borrowing wheels from some other car and seeing if the problem goes away and you could try to change your gearbox oil and check the old oil for excessive particulate - basically a transmission is going to shed some metal as it wears, but if it looks like a unicorn slurpie you've got problems.
However, the first thing you should do is to go get your car up on a lift and wiggle the wheels to check for play in the bearings. The wheels should not budge at all when wiggled.

I changed the transfluid about 10k miles ago and it looked like normal wear and tear, so I doubt that's the issue. I still have my old set of wheels and tires that came on the car so I'll throw those on tomorrow and see if that makes a difference, good idea though, I wouldn't have thought about that. As for getting the car on a lift, the soonest I can get the car on a lift for free is next week, so that's gonna have to wait until then

 

Yes that's a the wheel bearing, As for the tie rods & track rod ends if there's no play & bellows on the rods + dust covers on the ends are good they are fine. Change the full wishbone if any signe of corrosion on them inspect well as they rust from the inside out & will crack and break, if your sure they are good you can do the balljoints & bushings,

 

You'll know when it goes out it squeeks really badly. That drone noise can last 1 mile or 30000 miles. My tib had that when I very first got it. My speedometer would go out and stay at 0 because of the sensor. But I drove about 15k on it sometimes the mph would work before the entire hub and bearing went rotten.

 

Finally put in new rear hubs on both sides, droning is completely gone. Many thanks for the help

 

You'll know when it goes out it squeeks really badly.

Ya know, I've got that on my Mazda 3, it howls when the car is loaded and I'm taking a hard right. I'm gonna try replacing the rear left wheel bearing at some point but it will have to do until I get the Hyundai out of my garage/workshop.

Finally put in new rear hubs on both sides, droning is completely gone. Many thanks for the help

Glad to know it got fixed!
May the new bearings serve you for years to come!