Wheel Bearing Failure?

I just recently replaced the rears at 60K miles. The noise was gradual and finally this summer when my dad (at 80 with need of hearing aids) said it was too loud, ,I finally looked into it. Both the rears were shot. The fronts seem fine but I am going to look at them again next summer.

Here is my thread on the rears: Rear wheel bearings | PriusChat

I imagine the fronts would be more difficult but before you assume they are the problem, check the rears. There are others that have had them go.

 

Being a bit older than Spiderman's dad, I will make an observation. "When you've been around long enough your wheel bearings will last longer."

I find that on those days that I leave the hearing aids home my car is so quiet.

 

I just replaced my first wheel bearing on the passenger side rear at 175,000. All the others are still good for now.

 

I didn't get a chance to compare mileage because I had to switch to my snow tires half way through the tank. On the other hand I had not not seen a decrease over the last year and a half the noise had been around...

 

So how hard was it?

 

It was a lot easier than I thought. There are a couple of great youtube videos and I just followed them. It took about 2 hours. The OEM hub was about $250 maybe a little more.

 

Holy crap that's expensive. Are there any aftermarket alternatives for less??

In general, i'm a high mileage commuter, it's not uncommon for a small car to have wheel bearings go out under 100k miles. I have them replaced all the time in all my past vehicles which have all been cars of similar size. I think the main reason are the smaller overall diameter tires, combined with a smaller diameter hub. Not only do the wheels spin faster than a larger vehicle, but the hub is smaller with less mass so the heat dissapation or lack thereof compounds the problem.

Does your wife drive alot of highway??

 

I'd be checking it more than talking about it.

 

I've had to replace wheel bearings on every car I've owned. I changed a friend's brake pads once and she called me two months later saying they were grinding already and I thought, that's not possible! Showed up, drove her car around the parking lot and she had a horrible howl like that. Jacked up the car and the wheel was wobbling like crazy.

But, even if the wheel bearing isn't loose if you hear the bearing starting to grind at very low speeds it's going to bad sooner or later. And I believe most front wheel bearings are pressed in and out.

 

Thank you for the clips bestmapman. Looks like another easy bearing job.

 

I've only had a bad wheel bearing once in all the vehicles I've owned, and it was previously-owned. Is your driving-style possibly the reason?

 

Driving style, mileage, maintenance and environmentals all relate.

 

I would put it more towards the age of the cars I've owned. As I've typically owned cars that are older. 90's Hondas over the span of 3 years.

 

Dragging brake is a great bearing killer (heat), take care of your rear brakes! Low profile tyres and rims with wrong offset can also cause failures.