You guys think mine need replacing soon? When the car is cold I hear a whining noise coming from my right side. When I'm on the highway and go over 60 mph my steering wheel starts Vibrating a little. Thanks

 

Please let us know the result after you replace them. Like to know that.

Thanks,
T

 

I'm reading this 5 days after my left rear bearing locked up and took out a rotor and caliper in the process.. $800 I'll never see again

I'll have to look at replacing the others as a preventative measure

 

This has been done on both sides for some time now. My left rear bearing still continued to fail because I found out that the first bearing deteriorated the hub to the point where it would not keep the bearing properly in place. I ordered another hub and used the extra bearing I had and now everything runs smoothly.

Props to Grubbs and Riverside Infiniti for the hookup on prices on separate occasions for the bearings as well.

 

$280 out the door for my front right from the local shop. Worth every penny after seeing the pics.

 

Any truth to the claim that wheel spacers increase bearing wear and increase the risk of premature failure? Guy at my local shop refused to put them on saying it was asking for trouble. A lot of people use them on here but haven't heard of many problems?

 

Great to hear it's doable for the DIYer. Quick question... how'd you remove the bolts that hold the bearing assy in? Did you push the axle in for clearance?

 

Sounds about right. I hear the front is a little different than the rear though.

Never heard of that rumor; on here at least.

Good question. It's not an easy thing to do if you don't have the right tools; as goes with most projects. I used an angled/jointed head ratchet and the shallowest socket availible to take them out. I also had to wiggle the axle around to get to the bolts as well.

 

Thanks for the link...Mine are humming horribly right now.

 

Old thread, but it's a good question.

Your question needs to be split up in two parts.

Do spacers increase load on the wheel bearings? Yes they do. It's simply leverage and how it acts on this particular design of wheel bearing. Push the wheel's load on the wheel hub further away from the car and leverage on the fulcrum increases. The fulcrum is inside the bearing, so a spacer would increase the load. Increasing weight in the car would be equivalent.

Would it cause premature failure? Depends. Really depends on the manufacturers load rating of the bearing. Since only they have the data to say what for sure thismis, it's tough to know. How much safety factor did they build in. In other words, a wheel bearing built for a Mack truck could probably take the extra load of a 10mm spacer without a sweat, but a bearing barely adequate for a vehicles weight as is might see premature failures.

So it's not a rumor, there is scientific theory behind the statement, but without manufacturer data no way to know of the extra load would be acceptable.

 

Hubs can easily last 300,000 miles if they have not side swiped a curb and if your wheels are always balanced.

If it got to the point that dirt and water are getting in, then that is a clear indication that they were impacted into a curb.

 

A few mm or even 25mm should not be enough to wear out the bearings. Bearings start to wear just from the weight of the vehicle the moment they are installed on a car. But spacers do not wear them fast enough for you to notice any problem during the useful life of the car.

However, this the attached picture would obviously be a problem.

 

Wow^^