<p>The loading is one of the primary factors affecting the intensity and frequency composition of vibration response in a faulty bearing. Aircraft engines, gas turbines, and many other rotating machineries typically operate at wide speed ranges. In addition to the fixed loading, such as the system weight, the rotor bearings may also be subjected to significant centrifugal forces due to the rotor imbalance. In such cases, traditional faulty bearing vibration response models typically do not consider the effect of the rotor imbalance, and therefore are unable to predict complete vibration behaviors. In this paper, a novel vibration response model for faulty bearings is developed by investigating the composite effects of rotor dead weight and rotor imbalance. The developed model considers the following factors in vibration analysis: (1) the rotor imbalance effect, (2) the rotor dead weight effect, (3) the phase of the defect location, and (4) the phase of the rotor imbalance location. The results of both simulation analysis and experimental verification indicate that when the effect of centrifugal load cannot be neglected, rotor imbalance exerts a significant influence on the vibration response of damaged bearings. If the rotor imbalance effect is incorporated into the analytical model, the vibration response characteristics induced by bearing outer race damage may be similar to those predicted by traditional models for bearing inner race damage. In addition, the effect of centrifugal force caused by rotor imbalance may lead to inner race faulty bearings exhibiting a “healthy” state, which is a misleading “self-repair” illusion.</p>