On newer cars can you re grease bearings or is it pretty much always going to have to be changed?
I am pretty sure any shop is gonna wanna replace them since its a pricey job but just curious people’s experience with this.
Most are not servicable
Crap ok. I remember some older cars can have the seal replaced sometimes.
Thanks
Most new cars the bearing/hub is all one piece and replaced as an expensive unit.
Did your 3 already blow a bearing?
Ya I think so… 
It sounds like a fan getting louder when I drive and when I turn I can hear something rubbing. I dont wanna be flying down the highway at 75Mph and have my wheel fall off. If its not covered by the premium warranty or anything like that I might get rid of it.
Get rid of it over a wheel bearing? Seriously? lol
Jack the car up and see if there is any play in the bearing. Make sure it’s not something stupid like a bent brake shield rubbing. Even if it is the bearing the part is less than $80 from rockauto.com and shouldn’t take that long to swap out. You can borrow the giant axle nut socket from autozone for free even.
he probably meant get rid of the warranty
Lol. I live in a complex so dont have the ability to jack it up. Why are people telling me that to replace both wheel bearings is gonna run $800+ at least?
And no, I meant the car too. I am thinking about checking out the deals still on new cars or a speed3 as I am not paying a grand to fix a car thats 9 months old.
Another question… is this something you could have seen going? Could a mechanic have seen it back in January and known it was going or is it usually a sudden thing?
labor
And just food for thought; most times with the older ones, by the time they’re making noise and you think you need to regrease them… they’re already scored and shot and need replacing anyways.
Yup; exactly.
Most wheel hubs run about $100 for the part; but it can be quite a project to replace them depending on the vehicle.
I have to replace the ones on my blazer about once a year (They’re KNOWN for eating hubs); and I can do it now in about 45 minutes; but the first time took probably 2+ hours.
^ Probably would cost $800 if you took it to the dealer. For the one part would be three times as much, then they’d rape you on the labor.
www.rockauto.com for the parts.
Find a quiet corner of your complex lot and do the work on a weekend day. You don’t need anything more than a basic socket set, a breaker bar, a torque wrench and that big socket for the axle nut.
I don’t know the exact specifics of a 3 but generally the steps for the drive wheel are:
- If possible, access axle nut by removing center cap and loosen with car still on the ground.
- Remove wheel.
- Remove caliper.
- Remove rotor.
- Remove hub/wheel bearing assembly, usually 3 or 4 bolts.
- Instal new hub/wheel bearing assembly, torque to spec.
- Get the axle nut started as best you can. It’s difficult because everything wants to turn and the wheel isn’t on to stop it. I found a hammer standing on the ground with the wood handle facing up, directly under a lug that was trying to spin in the down direction worked great for locking the whole thing up. I had to adjust the jack to get the car at just he right height so the lug was trying to spin straight down but it was easy enough.
- Install rotor.
- Install caliper.
- Install wheel.
- Torque axle nut to spec.
If you can’t get to your axle nut through the rim center cap it’s a little harder because you have to find a way to stop the thing from spinning while you remove it and torque it to spec.
Everyone should have a basic socket set. A 1/2" drive torque wrench at harbor freight is $20. A 1/2" drive breaker is $10. I have a nicer Craftsman breaker but I get by with the cheap harbor freight torque wrench. If you don’t want buy a set of jack stands you can always put the tire/rim under the car for safety.
if you need to stop the rotor/hub from spinning, get a big screwdriver, and slide it into the side of the rotor(usually it’s slotted). Then rotate it until it’s jammed up against the caliper.
It seems this is a press in style on the 3’s(not sure of your year).
Pain in the ass big time. bearing runs $40.
Haha my thread next Monday will be: How the F*ck do I put this back together?!
I talked to one of my friends and he said it might also be caused by hitting the speed bump and having the rims on the front beat up and not wearing right. I looked this morning and have a bulge in one so might try to rotate the wheels around and see if that fixes the issue for the time being.
i stick a screwdiver in the slotted part of the rotor to stop it from spinning. works perfect everytime.
Yeah… was just looking at the picture of the part online…
That looks like a lot of fun to get out/in. :mad:
I may try to move my wheels from the front to the back myself and then see if it fixes the noise. If not, I will probably pay someone to do this. Seems way out of my ability.
do ittt yourself and learn a little. or hire some schmucks here to F it all up then we have shit to bitch about FTW
a single bearing/hub replacement shouldn’t cost much off of $200 at a shop. An out of balance wheel could cause a bearign to go bad but if its already bad moving the wheel around isn’t gonna change anything. Jack it up, grab the tires and check for any play.