Wheel Bearing - How long to hang on?

[vornwend 0]

Last 2 weeks or so I've noticed a low hum/droning noise which sounds like wheel bearing failure to me. More noticeable when in right hand bends at speed (hardly noticeable/ if at all at low speed).

 

Couple of questions:

 

1. Is it safe to hang on for another 400 miles or so till the service is booked?

2. Assuming it is wheel bearings Is it worth getting both sides done at once (front or rear)?

 

Grateful for any advice. :?

 

Cheers,

 

Vaughan

[jonnyboyo 0]

I've driven 3 of my previous cars for hundreds of miles with droning wheel bearings without any probs whatsoever. If its just a dull hum/drone then it should be fine for another 400 miles. Sometimes mechanics say to wait until it gets louder anyway so its easier for them to diagnose which bearing is faulty by spinning the wheel by hand. A quiet grumbling bearing wont show up by this method hence why their sometimes left to develop.

 

One of mine has just started to drone ever so quietly, and is more prominent on a left hander. I wont be changing it untill it starts to hum when driving in a straight line or becomes annoying!!

 

Theres no need to change both (left & right) bearings, their not like brake pads/discs. Just replace which ever one is duff matey.

 

Hope this helps ya :)

[dinkus 10]

When I went to Canada, we did a 1100 mile drive on a dodgy wheel bearing with no worries in chimo's car...

[vornwend 0]

Thanks Jonnyboyo, appreciate the advice.

:)

[vornwend 0]

When I went to Canada, we did a 1100 mile drive on a dodgy wheel bearing with no worries in chimo's car...

 

Cheers Dinkus - that sounds like a some trip!

[dinkus 10]

Yeah, was even better considering we did it in 12hrs :lol:

[steve_16v 0]

1100 miles ... in 12 hours ... with a dodgy wheel bearing ... that's good going! :)

[dinkus 10]

Yeah, it wasn't exactly legal and the cop wasn't too impressed when he caught us doing double the limit... :lol: :oops:

[dr_mat 0]

If the rumbling becomes constant, or even worse you start to detect actual play in the wheel itself, then you should rush headlong into getting it sorted ASAP.

 

Particularly on the front wheels - because the drive shaft goes through, the bearing has to get pretty bad before you can detect any play - but as soon as you can, you should get the car *towed* to the garage (or drive it veeeeerryyyy carefully .. ).

[scarlett 0]

hmmm....

 

in my first rado I started getting a wheel bearing drone at the start of a 420 mile trip home to Glasgow, ignored it and planned to get it sorted once there - started feeling ratehr strong 'vibrations' from the car whilst on M3 toll, this got worse and worse and eventually we limped into services as Lancaster to have a look, wheel was being held on by brake caliper alone, the hub was glowing red and the centre cap of my alloy had been melted with the heat... oops! 300 mile trip home on AA truck followed the next day...

 

My point is it 'may' last another 400 miles, but it may not, keep an eye on it and if it gets really noisy or wobbly, dont do 120 up the M6 or your wheel will fall off....

[dr_mat 0]

Completely agree, if you're going to carry on driving on it you have to keep an eye on it like a hawk.

 

It could last for months, but it could also have a catastrophic failure on the next corner, it's impossible for a bunch of random people like us to predict!

[dinkus 10]

Sorry - it is worth pointing out that our grand excursion was almost entirely on arrow-straight highways and the noise didn't get any worse at any point.

 

It was also a rear wheel bearing, which is under a lot less load than the fronts. Even so, as the good doctor and scarlett have said - keep an eye on it.

 

Or uh just move your service forward...?

[davidwort 0]

The rear bearings run on two angled races, inner and outer, these are the ones that tend to fade in/out as you change direction, it can be difficult to tell which corner the noise is coming from but in my experience a rear bearing can make substantial noise when there are only very tiny pits in the surface of the race. Jack the rear up and spin the wheels, you can usually hear a bad rear bearing, if it's badly pitted, like this. Fronts are very difficult to tell until you strip the bearing out.

[PhillT 0]

I've done 500+ miles with one rumbling in a F*rd

 

but only managed about 150 miles in my Mk1 until the whole thing disintergrated at 70Mph! scared the living daylights out of me when the car wobbled all over the place almost completely out of control! plus I then needed a new stub axle

 

so on that note, I'd say get it done as soon as you can! noisey bearings will create more heat which is only a bad thing for the hub etc..

[herisites 0]

Are bearings hard to replace yourself? I need to do mine at some point, they were getting noisy when going round a right hand bend at speed so i packed them with grease which stopped it but its come back again now, plus im fitting charger soon so think i just need to replace them all. Is it fronts that are hard to do yourself and rears easy or other way round or all hard??

[PhillT 0]

Not done bearings on a C before, but 99% sure they're all pressed into the hub (front's definately are), so you'd need to get someone with the right tools to press the old ones and and the news ones in for you

 

I've heard people freezing the bearing and heating the hub, and knocking the bearing in with a hammer before! but wouldn't like to do that myself

[dinkus 10]

No idea about the fronts, but the rear bearings are pressed into the brake disk - you can probably whack the old ones out ok, but wouldn't be too comfortable pressing new ones in.

 

The rear bearings are about £15 a side I believe and easy for a garage to change for you.

 

If you are doing it yourself, have a search on here for the correct torque setting - it's not very much and if you over-tighten them you'll damage the bearing and be replacing it again in a few months time. Similarly, you don't want to not do the hub nut up tight enough! :lol:

[vwsam20 0]

From my experiance with wheel bearings on a c change them as soon as pos.

If it is the rears and you are relativly compertant at mechanics(unlike my spelling) you can do them without a press however you will need to be very carefull. You will need a hammer and a 4mm or 5mm drift that has a long shaft. It will help to clean of all the old grease so you can see the location slots on the inside of the hub/disc. when pressing the new races in, be sure they are lined up correctly.

When fittting new races get a socket of the right diamiter (cant remebre the size of the top of my head) or you can use the old race to start it but it will get trickie. Dont press the new race all the way in with the socket as it will get stuck stop when the race is flush with the edge of the face of the hub/disc. You will then have to carfully tap it in with the drift, work round the race in the same manner you would tightening up a wheel. There is no real setting for the rear whell baring nut as far as i am aware, but if you tighten it by hand with a socket but no ratchet then put the wheel on tighten up as normall and check for play if you leave the dust cap off the bearing, along with the castle nut and the split pin you can get a socket in to tighten as needed untill ther is no play, some people like a hint of play and i mean a real hint, the choice is yours i tend to remove all play as after a few miles a touch of play may come back due to everything setteling down, more so on old stub axels.

With the front bearings i sudgest you take it to a gargae as you need a press, ball joint spliter, large torque wrench, sir clip plyers and a ruber malet. It is also easy to split the new bearing when fitting it if you are not familler to using a press. Hope this help sorry for the spelling i have read through this 5 times and have given up.

[vornwend 0]

Thanks for all the advice guys.

 

Discretion being the better part of valour I'm gonna leave it on the drive until the service. Pretty sure its a front nearside wheel bearing and getting low drone on straights now as well. Once had a cam belt failue on my 16 valver the day before it was due to be changed so my attitude to gambling with cars is somewhat tainted!

 

Vaughan

[Supercharged 2]

Change it asap as above - the front carriers are £150 each and the hub is about £70 - you risk wrecking them if you leave it.

[vornwend 0]

Nuff said, getting it sorted next week, meantime its staying on the drive :profileright: Looking forward to getting it back on the road though!

[PiercedWinky 0]

My 16v Golf had bad wheel bearings for over a year, no issues except for tire wear that wasn't too pleasent.

 

But I have heard horror stories about bearings coming apart while driving.

 

If you are going to do one front one, do both of them then have the car aligned. They do have to be pressed out and back in. If you do some of the work yourself (pull the spindles off of the car) and take them to a machine shop to have new bearings pressed in, it will save you a good chunk of money.

 

On the 16v it cost me around $80 to have the bearings pressed plus $40 per bearing and then I had one of my friends align the car for me for free (kinda good to know people in the industry)

[vornwend 0]

Got the car back from the garage today. Front nearside bearing was the culprit - also needed to get the drive flange replaced so not a cheap day but the main thing is its driveable again! :)

 

Thanks for all the advice.

 

Until the next time :?

[-Neil- 0]

i've noticed a hum coming from my front over the past week, and i went down to ED38 this weekend and i had terrible vibrations in the cabin of the car and an aful sound of humming and sqeeling, im booking my car in asap.