Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General what should I pay to replace a front wheel bearing?

Or you could do what I have done. Absolutley nothing! Of course you do have to put up with an extreme amount of road noise at freeway speeds, but oh well.

I'm no expert, but after doing a search on wheel bearings, doing nothing is a bad idea! They eventually sieze, and that means a tow truck. And the siezed bearing, when it does sieze, ruins the parts in contact with the bearing. Result? Mucho $$$. I'd rather pay $125 to replace a bearing and have my car drive/handle reliably.

Actually, you are absolutly right. The bearings will eventually sieze and bring extreme heat to all surrounding parts. Not good for the cv boot. I probably should have posted a j/k on the advise, so j/k hehe. But seriously, my bearings have been at a constant state of grindage for several months, and I have done nothing to fix it. Probably because I am saving for a new car, but that is no excuse either. I would not recomend driving for a long duration on loud and faulty wheel bearings.

Ry Ry:

$250 labor sounds like a great deal for the wheel bearings. The steering knuckle has to come all the way off and then you need special presses to get the hub and bearing extracted/installed back into the knuckle. The machine shop charged me $40 just for this. Check you ball joints to make sure the boots don't get ripped up during the knuckle work.

Actually, that's only if you're lucky! The one I have on for about 1 year collapsed on me with no warning. Then the replacement collapsed in about 3 months. I ended up getting brand new spindle assy on both sides. It's about $165.40 a piece, but I think it's the best way to go. I wouldn't really know about labor because I did almost everything mechanical myself.

To me it sounded like I had snow tires on the car, but only when turning the wheel in one direction, I forget which. I thought a bearing would have made a whine or squeal!

Live and learn. :p

I had mine done for $40 each, but I had removed the spindles and took them to a machine shop to have the bearings installed. Should be like 1-2 hrs for removal and installation.

So could that be the reason I have steering wheel vibration on accel and braking???

I just had my rotors turned and wheels balanced and it still does it...I was wondering what the heck was going on.

btw...my car has almost 70,000 miles on it and I haven't done anything to the wheel bearings, not even repack.

again forgive my stupidity, just trying to figure out my problems.

rainshdw

dunno. I personally aren't experiencing any vibration during excelleration or braking, only when I start to turn the wheel right - and it's just a light vibrating sensation in the steering wheel that cooresponds to the rubbing noise I hear from the front drivers side of the car. And I only notice the noise at around 50-60MPH. If i'm only going 20mph around a corner, I don't hear it yet. I'm sure if I where to let this problem go for a few months it would reach that point; I mean, it's already gotten much louder at those speeds over this last week. Sounds like you might have a different problem, sorry

I know for a fact that my wheel bearings are bad. I just recently replaced the rotors and drums, as well as an alignment, and my car shutters when hard braking. I'm not positive, but I believe the newer bearings do not need to be repacked anymore. Although my bearings are bad so who am I to say.