Wheel Bearing Replacement

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RamFan

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Going to be replacing the driver's side wheel bearing on my Monte next week and was wondering if I should just go ahead and replace the passenger's side while I'm at it. Passenger's side seems to be fine, no play or noise coming from it but not exactly sure what SOP for wheel bearing replacement is.

What ye thinks?
 
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I do both at that mileage, on my own car i did all 4 and put this to bed one time but thats my OCD.
Nothing like doing one then the other, then the ABS sensor fails on one in the rear and you need to swap that one out.
I don't have time or patience for goings on like that,
 
Unless there is a history of problems, don't replace a good wheel bearing.

Wheel bearings fail from specific events, rather than gradually wearing out.
 
Originally Posted By: RamFan
Going to be replacing the driver's side wheel bearing on my Monte next week and was wondering if I should just go ahead and replace the passenger's side while I'm at it. Passenger's side seems to be fine, no play or noise coming from it but not exactly sure what SOP for wheel bearing replacement is.

What ye thinks?


I just had one replaced on my Jeep yesterday and the mechanic said the other one should probably be replaced also. He says they do a lot of them. I assume we mean the sealed front wheel bearings?

The mechanic blames it on the northeast roads and winters.

I got a Timken on Amazon I believe.
 
If it's not throwing ABS codes, are loose, or are making noise we won't recommend replacing them at our shop. Wheel hubs (quality ones not junk China ones) aren't cheap. The other side might not go out in the life of the car or could go out tomorrow, and on the flip side the new one could go bad too, if it isn't broke don't fix it on wheel hubs.
 
Originally Posted By: RamFan
Going to be replacing the driver's side wheel bearing on my Monte next week and was wondering if I should just go ahead and replace the passenger's side while I'm at it. Passenger's side seems to be fine, no play or noise coming from it but not exactly sure what SOP for wheel bearing replacement is.

What ye thinks?


I thinks you should tell us how many miles are on the bearings...
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Had the driver's side front wheel bearing hub assembly on my truck replaced 4 years ago and the passenger side is still ok. This is on my 2002 F-150, only has 60,000 miles on it now. My wife's 2005 Explorer needed the driver's side wheel bearing hub assembly replaced. ~4 weeks later the passenger side needed replacement. Her vehicle had around 145,000 miles at the time. It didn't cost anymore to have them replaced at different times, just the "inconvenience" of a second trip to the shop. We live in NW NJ, a real salt belt. Rust has rotted my ABS sensors. No ABS now but didn't have it until this truck anyway. Drove without ABS for 31 years.

Whimsey
 
Another vote for only replacing the one that's bad.

That's assuming you've checked out the other one and know it's good, which it sounds like you may have done. If it's working fine, I wouldn't replace it.
 
I've always heard to replace only the bad bearing. They can last a long time. Also, each bearing is an individual fix-there's no savings in doing all of them except your own work rhythm. Plus, you could smash your car next week. Kira
 
I'd leave it alone. IIRC you can't gork the alignment doing these unless you have aftermarket struts with oblong mounting holes. Only think about it if you're getting aligned afterwards. And you could do it by popping the lower ball joint and TRE instead, and leaving the strut attached to the knuckle. (Assuming the top strut mounting holes aren't hogged out!) Though I'd rather remove lower strut bolts-- easier.
 
I have never heard of a manufacturer who makes an aftermarket bearing this is better quality than the OEM bearing the car came with. You should not replace the other bearing until it needs it. It'll probably outlast any aftermarket bearing you would put in.

At this point, failure is likely from worn seals, unless you beat on it recently.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
I would only do the bad one. Often one will outlast the other by a large margin.

+1 If the boot isn't torn and the grease is still inside, leave it be if it's not giving any problem signs.
 
Originally Posted By: Kestas
I have never heard of a manufacturer who makes an aftermarket bearing this is better quality than the OEM bearing the car came with. You should not replace the other bearing until it needs it. It'll probably outlast any aftermarket bearing you would put in.

At this point, failure is likely from worn seals, unless you beat on it recently.


I hope you are wrong about that. GM OEM FWD hubs on W bodies are notorious. Any other car I just do the defective one.
All to many of these GM units fail around 100K.
 
Well it seems the consensus is clear, however, I will definitely try and look into the W body specifics. Thanks for pointing that out, Trav.
 
The wheel bearings died on the Jetta at 103kmiles; at 105k I had enough and took it in. Diagnoses was left. When it went up on the rack I asked about the other side, and the mechanic had planned to check. Sure enough, it was gritty, just not making noise. Searching online it seems the MkIV VW's have short lived wheel bearings.

Now I had OEM bearings put in. Maybe they just haven't made noise yet, but for some reason it's noise free after 190kmiles on the replacements (293k on the car). So, if it was a VW I'd recommend doing both at the same time; I guess there isn't much time savings if you do it yourself, but if you are paying a shop and parking the car for a day or more, just do 'em both. Wife's Civic had one go, so we replaced just that; I think the other let go six months later. Go figure.
 
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