Wheel Bearing Issues

[jross360]

hey guys im having issues with my drivers front wheel bearing...Ive replaced the bearing twice, they just dont seem to last too long.. maybe 5k before i can feel the play in the wheel. So this time around i got a new knuckle, hub, bearing, axle, rotor, and pads. everything was good for awhile, but that familiar feeling is back...i pulled the bearing off last night to replace it with a
"good" known one from craigslist. it has more play than mine with the bearing installed with the rotor on it...are these bearings just garabage? ive bought new ones at autoparts stores and had them pressed in and they still have play. is OEM the trick or is something else causing it? ANY help would be great!

[lbus9168]

Is the entire wheel and suspension setup stock?

[CornDog]

A wheel alignment issue will put extra stress on your wheel bearings. Have you checked to see that your tires are wearing evenly?

[jross360]

wheels are 99 ex wheels on 205/50/15s suspension is yonaka coilovers and all bushings from energy. I do have excessive wear on the drivers front tire, thought it was from the wheel bearing wobbling so bad. alignment? re torque everything?

[jross360]

I guess i will buy a new bearing and have the hub that looks best pressed on. then i will retorque everything and have it aligned. just need to figure out what camber kit will be the fix to the 'issue' we all have with them.

[masospaghetti]

What brand bearings are you using? The cheap bearings have a terrible reputation for longevity and 5k miles wouldn't surprise me at all.

Also, make sure you are torquing the axle nut to spec. Too loose or too tight will make the bearing fail in short order. It needs a certain amount of preload from the axle nut to properly function.

[jross360]

that makes sense. I just use whatever cost less auto parts had on hand, twice, and i got a hub\bearing from a guy that was parting out on craigslist. Ok ill try that, i usually just hit it with an impact till i feel its tight enough and stake it lol.

[lbus9168]

There is alot wrong here, judging by the wheel and tyre combo, the terrible terrible coilovers, and the camber kit comment, your dumped on Oem style wheels?

lowering your car puts more stress on every suspension component including wheel bearings. always always replace your bearings with high quality stuff, it would of been cheaper already if you just bought good stuff to begin with.

another thing about wheel bearings, i would not worry about them unless the wheel is wearing in patches, or there are grinding noises. every single time you change anything suspension wise, you need an alignment.

Buying bearings off of craiglist is terrible. a hub is fine, but dont reuse bearings. Energy bushes are good, If youre really low you may need a camber kit to correct excessive negative camber. if you have too much, then it will wear bearings out quicker. if you still want that look, then youll need to continually get more alignments, and replace bearings more. fact of life. You need to torque items correctly.

If you havent already, invest in a torque wrench. the axle should not be so tight that its destroying your bearing, but if your tightening with an impact it could be any tightness. dont do that.

Masospagetthi (sphagetti?) is correct, cheap bearings are shit.


so overall - replace wheel bearings with hq stuff, torque correctly, get alignment, stop using yonaka's.