Catastrophic wheel bearing failure.
 

Hi all,

was driving along, heard a thud and then loads of grinding noise. Pulled over and couldn't see anything obviously wrong. Carried on my way home.
Jacked the front end in the air and the front drivers side wheel has probably 1-2cm of play!!
Started to dismantle it and the bearing fell apart.

I have never in my life had a bearing fail so dramatically.. Is this normal? Car passed MOT with no advisories only a week ago.

She is a 2006 Hawk wagon running 18" Prodrive wheels and Prodrive springs. car done about 60k. Could the firmer ride have contributed to the bearing going?

thanks,

Like you say thats very unusual. Had it somehow run dry of grease?
Can't believe mot didn't notice it if its gone that quick all of a sudden.
Obviously a firmer ride will be harder on wear and tear but not enough to destroy a wheel bearing i wouldn't think

Seemed to be plenty of grease filled with metal flakes when I took it out lol.

as well as the MOT I also had a full 4 wheel alignment at the same place. You would have thought they would notice on that if it was about to go.
In fairness to them there was no indication it was on the way out. no rumbling or knocking noises.

The stub axle basically fell out of the hub with all the roller bearing following it. Think it was just the outer bearing that has failed.

The inner race is now jammed in the hub with no lip or anything to enable me to knock it out. Think the dremel may get some abuse tonight.

Was the nut still on the end of driveshaft? You know you big nut behind the centre cap of wheel thats usually crimped at the end so as not to work loose

At least you made it home. Last time I had a bearing fail dramatically, I was in a vw, gone midnight, back in the days before mobile phones. Luckily, I knew something was wrong and a mate sat in the back of the car opened the rear door as I was driving along slowly, and told me the back wheel had a wobble on.
As I approached a set of lights, and slowed to a stand still, the rear wheel fell off the car. The bearing had welded itself to the stub axle and then sheared the stub axle clean off leaving us stranded. We had to walk a couple of mile to the nearest phone box, and called for recovery, that cost about 150 quid to take my car 5 miles home.

Yes lol. was still on and was still crimped and on very tight. (removed with impact gun) I think I would have noticed that when I was dismantling it.

New bearings arrived so will hopefully be back on the road before the weekend.

Lol just wondered if it had worked a bit loose and the play disturbed the bearing.
Maybe the bearing was just a bad egg lol. Might be worth checking or just replacing the otherside while your doing it

I do still wonder if it broke getting its mot. Because they put the car on a machine on the ramps and it shakes the car to test for wheel bearing problems etc. Maybe the shaking broke your bearing which must have been weak i suppose anyway

Bearing fitted today. was a total ball ache to get the old outer race out but got there in the end. new race went in easy enough. covered in grease, put in a sealed bag and stuck in the freezer over night. Went in nice and easy then.

Just got back from a test drive and all seems business as usual.

I think I have possible a theory why it went all of a sudden. When the new kit arrived from http://www.importcarparts.co.uk/ it had 2 dust seals (inner and outer) my bearing never had an outer seal when I dismantled it... I wonder if brake dust or some grit got into the outer bearing causing it to fail?
The other reason I think this is that the old grease was black and felt a bit like toothpaste and not smooth.

On putting back together I have put both seals on so time will tell I guess.

Also I think i will be doing the other side just to be sure things are the same.

Yeah bearing probably needed attacking with hammer and old screw driver and smashing out. Think the seal missing would explain it braking! Can you inspect the otherside of vehicle to see if it has a seal or not,without dismantling too much?

Had a look at the other side but could not see enough to be sure it was ok. decided to fit a new bearing anyway for peace of mind.
on taking apart the bearing did indeed have an outer and inner seal. thus backing my theory about a missing outer seal and that probably caused its demise. Possibly missed at factory or had a bearing replaced before and mechanic forgotten to put seal in? either way sorted now.

Been of a test drive and all seems well so hopefully the end of that saga.

cheers all,

Just out of curiosity, are the front wheel bearings doable with the car on the ground and no hydraulic press ?
Going to need to do my near side front. I'll do it my self as long as it's doable for the home mechanic.

Cheers in advance !

I done it on my drive with a jack and some axle stands, so is doable. (I am no professional mechanic but I have been messing with cars most of my life)

To do them you need to get the hub off the car.. Would be impossible otherwise.
The race I was able to remove old one and put new one back in with this tool.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-VS7...item1e8160a2e3

I also had the cunning plan to cover the race in grease, pop in a freezer bag and leave it in the freezer while removing the old one. That way the new one basically dropped in with little effort. other option could be put the hub in the oven for 10 minutes I guess. you have to work quick either way for obvious reasons.

With the bearing on the stub axle I snapped the roller bearings off and cut it with a dremel, then split it with a cold chisel allowing it to come off easily. That way I was able to use it as a nice fitting drift for putting the new bearing in place and it easily came off after. same principle for the inner and outer.

I decided it was also a good excuse to replace the ball joints on the wishbones. cheap enough to buy and why not while you are there. (wishbones did have to come off)

1st side I did in stages as took hub off and had to order bearings so took a few days to complete. other side I was able to have it all off and back on in about 4-5 hours.

Don't forget to mark camber bolts on the shocks by the way :)

And for the record it has been running perfectly since and I have not needed to touch them!

Good luck.

Fuzzbom,

Thanks very much for the reply. That's a great help to me !
I have done wheel bearings on cars and motor bikes in the past. I was just interested to know wither the impreza bearing was worth doing my self or putting to a garage.
It's one of those jobs that you question wither you can really be bothered with, especially at this time of the year !

Thanks again for your help. It's much appreciated !