Wheel bearing shot, mechanic is on medical leave

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Mar 1, 2012
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HUdson Valley, NY
Hello folks,

2015 Forester, ~65K miles on the odometer.
Driver's rear side wheel bearing are shot (They were replaced about 30K miles ago). The mechanic is on medical leave for 2 months. Can I wait for 2 months or get them replaced?

Thanks in advance.
 
My opinion is no. What if it seizes, or if not, strains the drivetrain? But why did it fail in only 30k?

Now you've got me wondering, my 2 cars are well over 100k. I've actually only had a replacement on a Volvo. My Nissan was over 250k and never addressed them...
 
I would get it replaced, or better yet, get both rear bearings replaced. If one is failing the other won't be far behind it.

Subaru wheel bearings are awful. I'm not sure if it's a design flaw but the hubs would definitely benefit from a grease fitting. I have changed the rear wheel bearings in our Crosstrek twice and the fronts one time. Subarus go through wheel bearings like I go through blueberry pancakes on Sunday morning. :)
 
Thank you, folks.

Will get it changed ASAP.

@John105, I have no idea. Its the bearing of the same wheel. When first went bad, I was surprised too, but the mechanic said, its common for Subarus so didn't think a lot. He replaced it with SKF because supposedly OEMs do not come as an assembly, and they are not any better than the SKFs.

@Trav I was not aware of this service bulletin. I will take a copy of this to the dealership. Thanks for pointing it out.
 
Hello folks,

2015 Forester, ~65K miles on the odometer.
Driver's rear side wheel bearing are shot (They were replaced about 30K miles ago). The mechanic is on medical leave for 2 months. Can I wait for 2 months or get them replaced?

Thanks in advance.
Find another mechanic.
 
They usually make noise for some time before they go critical.

but no sense waiting 2 months. Your mechanic isn't going to take it as a slight going elsewhere. Bothered perhaps, but he has to know, he couldn’t get to it.

If you are good friends with him, ask for a referral. If not, just go elsewhere, when he is back in action, he can get the next job.

Only 30k on the replacements though? hate to ask, but that seems awfully short lived—and would have wondering about if the job was done right. Outside of the typical warranty, though.
 
Only 30k on the replacements though? hate to ask, but that seems awfully short lived—and would have wondering about if the job was done right. Outside of the typical warranty, though.
Got an appt at the dealership on Monday morning. OEMs also went out at 30K. So I don't think its a result of shoddy work. TBH, he is the most honest mechanic I have found that I don't have complaint about work quality. As @Trav pointed out to the TSB, probably a design flaw?
 
I had a 1998 Forester. Same BS. Wheel bearings are not supposed to go out lol. Mine howled for months, I should of done them sooner.

And btw, there are lots of honest and compentent mechanics out there. Find a backup.
 
Got an appt at the dealership on Monday morning. OEMs also went out at 30K. So I don't think its a result of shoddy work. TBH, he is the most honest mechanic I have found that I don't have complaint about work quality. As @Trav pointed out to the TSB, probably a design flaw?

I had a 1998 Forester. Same BS. Wheel bearings are not supposed to go out lol. Mine howled for months, I should of done them sooner.

I'm not surprised with the OP's 30K wheel bearing life. Our bought new by us 2001 Subaru Outback had multiple wheel bearing failures while we owned it. Except for that Subaru I've never had a wheel bearing fail in any of the 30+ cars I've owned. And there was the defective flywheel design (manual trans, wicked clutch chatter) and extensive electrical corrosion inside the entire rear taillight assemblies. And, oh, the bad head gaskets that had an official under warranty repair of radiator stop leak. That car was a pile.

Scott
 
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Usually it takes me less than half an hour to replace a wheel bearing - it's not rockt science, you can do it yourself.
Maybe watch a few YT videos before, if it is your first time.
 
My wife’s car is a 2008 Subaru Outback. The original wheel bearings made it to around 150K miles. Now, I have seem to go about 20,000 miles on the front wheel bearings before the grinding sound develops. I find this topic very timely because I replaced the right front wheel bearing in October with an SKF bearing and it sounds like it needs replacement already.

Trav, thanks for sharing the service bulletin with us. I have been very carefup about using torque specs from the factory service manual. I have been wondering what I have been doing wrong to get such short life from the front wheel bearings?

I like the Subaru and don’t want to replace the car, but I am getting frustrated..

It may be time to try new backing plates?
 
I replace the backing plates on these mostly because they are rusted to pieces and the hubs can take a real beating removing them.
The problem with the OE ones apparently was a bad surface that the hub sits against, this issue goes further back that the TSB.
On that 2008 you may have trouble removing the rear hubs and the hub bolts, have rocket sockets and a hub buster ready, use an impact gun, after all these years and rust they will be tighter than wino after a week long binge.

This one example, they work well enough and not expensive.


 
I replace the backing plates on these mostly because they are rusted to pieces and the hubs can take a real beating removing them.
The problem with the OE ones apparently was a bad surface that the hub sits against, this issue goes further back that the TSB.
On that 2008 you may have trouble removing the rear hubs and the hub bolts, have rocket sockets and a hub buster ready, use an impact gun, after all these years and rust they will be tighter than wino after a week long binge.

This one example, they work well enough and not expensive.


I love how random import stuff wants to include gloves. I got a set of import bed bolts for my SuperDuty that included some really thin knit gloves. Weird.
 
Also I've never done one but I've got an '06 Forester sitting at the shop right now for a different problem. But I know I'll be doing all service on it as needed.

I've been skeered of the wheel bearings on these ever since I watched this awhile back:
 
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