Thread: Rear wheel bearings

My RH rear failed at 160k , but 10 yr old car that spent most of its life in the tropics and big wet seasons. I ended up doing both just for piece of mind.

The joys of mechanical components

Cheers Ean

Mine went at 9yrs and about 170k km. My fronts were not long after. Cost me $1500 for all 4, and installed the fronts myself (the hub bolts on/off)

Since buying it in 2015 with 150k km i have taken it through a few muddy puddles. If they last another 150k km i will be happy.

My Hyundai i30 needed a front wheel bearing done before 90k km, if thats any comparison. It chewed through the hub too.

Ok - so my RRS is 11 years old and now covered 175,000km - no noises or issues but I have had wheel bearings in the back of my mind for a while as I have had some nasty problems in the past when I had my Series 3 (wheel fell off) and Subaru.

Now I know that when you replace the bearings on the RRS/D3 you get the hub complete with the bearing and you cannot just do the bearings themselves, however can the bearings be repacked?

Based on the kms discussed in this thread can I expect some issues before too long?

Garry

No the bearings cannot be repacked as they are a fully sealed unit.

I managed to get nearly 300K out of my bearings (possibly through ignornance, as the workshop replaced them all on the same day).
I hadn't noticed anything wrong on my 2000k trips to the workshop, but evidently they reckoned all needed replacing on same day.
Since bearings are sealed, and you cannot spin the wheel to check for bearing rumble or such, it seems that the only way to check wheel bearings is to simply jack the wheel off ground, and grab top to bottom, or side to side and look for "wriggle".
ANY movement, then time to replace.
I have found a couple of Australian suppliers who will deliver pairs of front hubs for between $127-135 a pair, so they are not expensive.
There are other brands of hubs that specify Timken bearings within and they are only slightly dearer.
Just replace, not worth the worry.

Originally Posted by vbrab

I managed to get nearly 300K out of my bearings (possibly through ignornance, as the workshop replaced them all on the same day).
I hadn't noticed anything wrong on my 2000k trips to the workshop, but evidently they reckoned all needed replacing on same day.
Since bearings are sealed, and you cannot spin the wheel to check for bearing rumble or such, it seems that the only way to check wheel bearings is to simply jack the wheel off ground, and grab top to bottom, or side to side and look for "wriggle".
ANY movement, then time to replace.
I have found a couple of Australian suppliers who will deliver pairs of front hubs for between $127-135 a pair, so they are not expensive.
There are other brands of hubs that specify Timken bearings within and they are only slightly dearer.
Just replace, not worth the worry.

Care to share.

$130 for a pair? Genuine ones cost about double that, each. So four times the price (or a lot more again if you get it in the green box). I just brought a pair of genuine OE Timkens in for a bit under $400 landed and that was pretty sharp pricing. I would be wary of cheaper bearings for something so critical myself.

I have read on other forums to ensure whatever brand hubs you get, that they should have Timkin bearings - if not a changeover will be required before too long as no name bearings will not last long.

Garry