The nightmare con't. Domino effect of bad service!

[antiqueshell]

I posted a couple of weeks ago about my new to me 1994 Honda Accord having ALL of the studs/lug nuts cross threaded on BOTH front wheels by the local hack... erm Honda Dealer, well I went ahead and had a independent shop which was recommended to me (by my primary mechanic) that specializes in wheels and tires remove and replace those destroyed fasteners with new ones. All seemed to go well, however after about a week of driving it (about 200 or so miles), lo and behold the passenger side wheel bearing suddenly fails!

Now I know this is an older car with 129k miles on it, but the coincidence of this is too much really. I do know that they likely needed to air chisel or hammer the old studs out.

To those EXPERIENCED techs please give me the likely hood that this shop in the process of removing the old studs damaged the wheel bearing or hub assembly....Thanks.

I have written to AHM regarding this dealer and expect that they will follow up..

All this nonsense due to some hack doing a simple tire rotation!!! UNBELIEVABLE!

Just to be fair... this is not a Honda Dealer in the Chicago area, but one in the upstate of South Carolina.

 

[RH+G]

Because of that design the bearing was opened up in the process of replacing the studs.
Your bearing was probably on its way out anyway but obvisouly not that soon.
I would have told u that u should replace the bearing while we doing the job. Would have killed two birds with one stone

 

[antiqueshell]

Thanks RH+G:

I was not clear on whether or not they had to actually remove the bearing in this case. I wish they would have simply let me know this in the first place. I'm not too happy with them, because I noticed right after receiving the car back that there was just the slightest amount of increased noise from that area, I also had new tires installed so I figured that it was a result of new tires with lots of tread.

I am so disgusted right now. When I returned to the shop that did the stud installs the service writer took the car with a tech for a quick test drive and returned shortly after, and curtly announced that ".... wheel bearing's bad!" An interesting aspect also was that from the time I first started to hear the roaring noise to it getting very loud was only a matter of 30 miles or so.

Not too pleased with this place if for no other reason because of the odd behavior when I brought it back for them to look at, I never insinuated that they caused the damage..one of the benefits of living in small town america I guess. Service writer quoted me 230 bucks to replace the bearing. Before he quoted the price he explains, "it's not that expensive." LOL

I promptly told him it is too expensive for me and told him luckily since I have another car I will be parking this car for the time being. LOL

 

[Gabe]

It is possible that the tech didn't put the correct preload on the bearings; that would cause the bearing to fail prematurally.

This isn't the first (or third) time that you have blamed a mechanic for some unrelated problems. You have to understand that your car will need repairs for time to time.

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: Gabe
It is possible that the tech didn't put the correct preload on the bearings; that would cause the bearing to fail prematurally.

This isn't the first (or third) time that you have blamed a mechanic for some unrelated problems. You have to understand that your car will need repairs for time to time.



If you didn't read above, I specifically mentioned that I DID NOT try to blame them, you have to think logically that since the two items are in the same general area, AND like the other poster mentioned the bearing/hub needed to be opened up for the replacement of the studs the possibility of damage is there.

ALSO important I found out that the guy doing the work was a part time employee that was doing this work as a second job. I doubt that he knew about correct pre-loading of the bearing. LOL

Sorry but my guess is that this place screwed up. But they were nice enough to let me spend 500 bucks on new tires instead of replacement bearings at the time.

I wonder when the driver's side bearing will fail? Sheesh!

 

[yonyon]

Make a few phone calls and see if anyone in the area has a Hub Shark. If someone's got one they may be able to save you a few dollars on the cost of bearing replacement. If not, consider also the possibility of having the work done at a dealer using a part you supply as this may also be a cost saving option. If you go that route, get a bearing from a trusted brand as you can't expect them to provide any warranty on a part that you supply yourself.

 

[salv]

I doubt that the shop "caused" the bearing to fail. Should they have checked the car over thoroughly and called any findings to your attention? Yes.
This is a perfect example of why shops do "multipoint inspections", to protect themselves from situations like this.
Stuff like this happens all the time. It is inevitable that a customer will try and hold a shop liable if their car has a problem that they didn't notice before it came in. Best thing a shop can do is look for every possible sales opportunity they can find. A lazy tech that just does only what is stated on the work order is the problem here.
I will bet the tech told the writer that if he wanted the bearings checked he should have written it on the work order.

 

[Shannow]

Probably belted the press in studs back through the hub with an FBH...axial load brinelling the bearings.

Bearings may have been on the way out/aged, but out of plane impacts often cause unexpected things to happen.

 

[MarkM66]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Probably belted the press in studs back through the hub with an FBH


That's what I was thinking.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: RH+G

I would have told u that u should replace the bearing while we doing the job. Would have killed two birds with one stone


And if the shop would have suggested replacing the bearings to him, we'd be suffering through a post ranting about repair shops all conspiring to rip him off by suggesting repairs he doesn't need.

 

[supton]

$230 doesn't seem like a bad price; but IME, on two vehicles, the other bearing wasn't far behind. I've heard of some people replacing just the one making noise, and the other never goes out in the next 200k; just not my experience, as I think the bearings in my case ('04 VW Jetta, '01 Civic) wore out due to bad roads.

 

[Gotch]

...if they left the hubs on the vehicle when they removed the studs the bearings would be damaged due to the impacts of removing the studs. Replacing studs in hubs MUST be done off the vehicle...using a press to ensure no damage occurs.

 

[Kestas]

This is why I urge people NOT to hammer at the hub units. Posters have always retorted that it's no big deal to pound the studs out.

 

[Gotch]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
This is why I urge people NOT to hammer at the hub units. Posters have always retorted that it's no big deal to pound the studs out.


+1

Wheel bearings are not designed for unit loading at rest. Unless the studs fall out, damage will occur if they are struck sideways.

 

[hattaresguy]

Its a 20 year old car when you start taking stuff apart other things often break. If the wheel bearings are original they are all due for replacement. If you plan on keeping the car for any period of time I'd at least repack all 4 if not outright replace them.

 

[Vikas]

Unfortunately, bad things happen even if you are there to watch the mechanics every step. But if you are not there, then who know!

 

[exranger06]

If you want to fix this yourself, (or just want to see what's involved and why it costs $230 to fix) here is a great video showing you how:


I've done this job before, except I replaced the hubs too (got rid of the ridiculous "captive" rotors and did the rotor over hub conversion), so I didn't have to deal with separating the hub from the bearing or cutting the inner race off the hub. I did however, have to hammer the new hub into the new bearing like Eric did in the video. I haven't had any problems from hammering them in so far.

 

[bdcardinal]

When I turned wrenches I had the tool from MATCO for those hubs. I could get the hub off and to the rotor in about 10 minutes. Still got to flag 2 hours a side, but I had to pay off the $250 tool. One of the lamest designs ever if I might say so.

 

[mechtech2]

Yes, pounding studs in/out on the car can bend a hub or upset a bearing.

But I don't know what you started with

 

[antiqueshell]

According to my father who was there it appeared as if the guy was doing the work with the hubs still on the car!

For those of you making excuses for poor/incompetent workmanship AND customer service... stop it already.

It is clear that if the job would have been done properly, the hubs would have been removed from the car.

FYI the service writer WAS standing right there beside the mechanic and actually stated something in front of my father about how "this job (removing the studs) was almost as much work as installing a new bearing". Of course my Dad is NOT a very knowledgeable person about cars so unless the SW told him he wouldn't have realized anything.

Also instead of the service writer selling my Dad 450$ worth of tires he SHOULD have sold him on replacing the bearings since it made more sense. The guy did not do a good job of informing the customer.

Of course the one nice consolation is when the SW was sure he was getting another 230 sale that day he was surprised when I told him it WAS not that expensive IF I hadn't already spent 550$ several weeks and 250 miles beforehand". Telling him "no" was a pleasure, since I believe the SW didn't do his job correctly and the guy was a bit rude to boot when I had done NOTHING to encourage that attitude.