• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Wheel bearings

D.Acker

D.Acker

Owner/LUCA’s *****
Admin
Joined
Apr 1, 2000
Messages
5,762
Location
Waterman, IL
So I had both front wheel bearings replaced in late February adn approx 4,000 miles ago. I'm getting the same noises again in the front and dead sure it's the bearings again. So I'm going to take my car back to the shop that did it and talk to the owner (who also did the work) and see what can be done.

My question is, should I have them look at anything else that my be going out that could have caused the bearings to go out so quickly?

I'm leaning towards that they got a bad part or a bearing just didn't press in correctly, not leaning towards shop\technician error.
 
There are certainly more causes.

Improper alignment, bad bearings to begin with, improper installation (pressed out and in, not pounded in) all cause failure.

Also, if your bearings were originally failing for any length of time, they can eat away at the hub causing the ID to change slightly, and this prevents the new replacement bearings from sealing fully, thus they are loose and fail faster (which eats at the hub more, etc) At that point, you'd need a new HUB assembly, too. The good news is, if you purchased a hub assembly, it comes with the bearing already pressed in to it, so its a matter of yanking the hub, and swapping the new one in.. no press required.. you can do it yourself even.
 
Last edited:
Ray said:
There are certainly more causes.

Also, if your bearings were originally failing for any length of time, they can eat away at the hub causing the ID to change slightly, and this prevents the new replacement bearings from sealing fully, thus they are loose and fail faster (which eats at the hub more, etc) At that point, you'd need a new HUB assembly, too. The good news is, if you purchased a hub assembly, it comes with the bearing already pressed in to it, so its a matter of yanking the hub, and swapping the new one in.. no press required.. you can do it yourself even.
Click to expand...


Ray,

Thanks for the info. I think that's the route I'm gonig to go with the hub assemblies since when I bought the car last year I was pretty sure the bearings were bad, but couldn't tell for sure (original tires, bad pavement, wasn't undoubtly evident when turning) so I'm not sure how long they may have been bad previous to me getting the car.
 
uhm... the first time it slips?

there is damage occuring with every single tire rotation, and the damage done is exponential as the bearing fails further and further.

If yuo change the bearing in 1 mile it COULD have already damaged it too bad... alternatively 10,000 miles and the hub might still be salvageable. However, as a general safe rule, if you catch the bearing within a few weeks of hearing it you will PROBABLY be okay.. but its not guaranteed.
 
if you are replacing everything to make sure the hub is good I would get the knuckle also.


now if I am not mistaken you should be able to get the whole assembly from Ford.
 
BrApple said:
if you are replacing everything to make sure the hub is good I would get the knuckle also.


now if I am not mistaken you should be able to get the whole assembly from Ford.
Click to expand...

Do you know roughly what that should run me?
 
always thought/heard that they whee around $200 each if I found the right thing on team fords web page
 
Last edited:
Make sure someone's not using cheap Chinese bearing, have seen them fail QUICK. Also make damn sure the proper torque (200+ ft.lbs.) is put on that axle nut, that alone could account for the noise, if it's loose and backing off. The torque also provides for some of the bearing waterproofing, it keeps vast majority of water from ever getting to bearing seal. I pound those bearings in with hammer all the time, never lost one yet, although it IS POSSIBLE, if one is ham-fisted.
 
Back from the shop

Back from the shop

Had the mechanic look at the car today. I'm hearing things. He said everything looked\sounded good to him. Let me preface this with he wasn't being defensive at all... He did say that they always check out the hubs etc and everything looked great on my car when they did the bearing last time.

So I guess it's better to think you're hearing a broken something and find nothing broken, than not hear a broken something and have a bigger problem later.?:crazy:
 
Have hammered in hundreds if not thousands, working on printing presses for 30 years. Can't recall one going bad, EXCEPT Chinese ones whose shields were on so loose that tapping them in made the shields come loose to where later they fell off. Changed to USA part and stopped the problem. If you take a knuckle and heat with a torch (DON'T MELT IT) and freeze bearing in freezer, very often can install with one or two fairly light whacks. They almost fall in place. You just can't be stupid about it. Did it on 2 Tempos, a Topaz, Contour, and lately Focus wagon (my personal cars). No problem whatsoever. I like to change them past 125K. Let me see, at $20 per bearing press in/out, how much is that saved? I'll never get paid that well anywhere else.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top