Front Wheel Bearings

[gideon1331]

Has anyone had problems with their wheel bearings?

My '05 is at 52,500 and there is somewhat of a grinding feel coming from the front right wheel, and it develops a whirring-like noise at higher speeds. It sounds like wheel bearings when I have heard them go bad in other cars.

I took my car in for an alignment/wheel balance this morning, and described the symptoms to them (not a dealer), and the guy immediately said wheel bearing (they don't do that sort of work, so it's not like he was pushing a sale). I had them do the whole alignment/balance because the car needed it anyway, and yes the grinding and noise is still there. It is now starting to be a constant issue, where it was only at certain times for the past few days.

I have an appt at my dealer Weds morning, as the car is under the extra care platinum warranty, which will cover the bearings.

I just wanted opinions in case this could be something else...possibly something the warranty wouldn't cover, so I could be prepared to defend against a possible dealer rape scenario.

[ems]

I'm guessing you checked your brakes and they are o.k. If that is the case then yes I would say it is a bad bearing. I have changed them on my car and they don't seem to have a long life. It's not hard to change so, if you want to do it yourself you will need to have the old bearing pressed out and the new one pressed in.

[gideon1331]

Yea, the brakes are good. The pads maybe have 15,000 miles left in them or so, and I get no vibration that suggests that the rotors are any worse-off than they normally are after 52,000 miles.

Glad to hear that the bearings aren't that bad to replace for when the car is out of warranty...but for the time being I'm glad to have a dealer that I can make replace it.