bad rear wheel bearing (Wheel Hub Replacement)

[B14CK_H4WK]

my rear right wheel bearing in the wheel hub is just about done. Ive had a strange rattle/grind noise at low speeds but i assumed it was just my heat shield again cause its cold, but it was going away and got louder and worse. yesterday on the way home my wheel was vibrating like the tire was not a circle or had something on it. so today i put the car up because i assumed it was a bad wheel bearing. sure enough once putting the back up and just spinning the wheel by hand you can hear the marbles in a bag noise.so i will be posting a how 2 take apart the rear brake drum/ replace the wheel hub. it prob wont be till the weekend because the hubs done come in until friday

[star_deceiver]

Well... looks like you now have plans for the weekend!!!

[vibedrivermatt]

cool! I'm sure a how-to will be helpful for others needing to take that apart. lets see it!

[03VibeOttawa]

Good luck.I just had my mechanic replace my front driver's side bearing last month. The bearing mount was completely seized up, and a torch + chisel, plus an extra hour of labour were required. My mechanic told me that people with larger (and possibly heavier) aftermarket rims often go through OEM wheel bearings faster than people with stock size/weight wheels. His technical reasoning IIRC was that larger aftermarket wheels have their centrifugal force father from the hub center, which adds stress. Does anyone have any comment on that?

[star_deceiver]

Quote, originally posted by Feelin’ The Vibe »My mechanic told me that people with larger (and possibly heavier) aftermarket rims often go through OEM wheel bearings faster than people with stock size/weight wheels. His technical reasoning IIRC was that larger aftermarket wheels have their centrifugal force father from the hub center, which adds stress. Does anyone have any comment on that? Driving technique has a lot to do with that... the amount of corners taken and the speed they're taken at...And with a better handling car that the aftermarket wheels should provide, more stress would be put on the bearings due to the aggresive driving nature that would undoubtedly follow (intentional or not).

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by Feelin’ The Vibe »Good luck.I just had my mechanic replace my front driver's side bearing last month. The bearing mount was completely seized up, and a torch + chisel, plus an extra hour of labour were required. My mechanic told me that people with larger (and possibly heavier) aftermarket rims often go through OEM wheel bearings faster than people with stock size/weight wheels. His technical reasoning IIRC was that larger aftermarket wheels have their centrifugal force father from the hub center, which adds stress. Does anyone have any comment on that? Centrifugal force hasn't much to do with it... A lot of times people run improper wheel spacing.. Well, the engineers designed the WB with a specific load center.. Move the wheels spacing and you move the load center.. Cornering is accounted for, the force placed on the WB is only greater if the OVERALL diameter of the wheel/tire has changed... Most people plus size within 5-10% of OEM diameter, so the over all loading in corners is minimal.. No, most times aftermarket wheels change the load center on the bearing... But they just go too, I need to replace one on mine ASAP.. Sounds like I have a card in the spokes of the wheel..

[B14CK_H4WK]

i take all my turns very fast because i want to make use out of my coil overs and its fun. so i prob will go through some more bearings but o well. so far its a pain in the ***, taking off the brake cover and so on (drum brakes) was quite easy but the wheel hub is quite rusted in there, being from ohio. i ran out of light after a lot of PB blaster and hammering on the hub from the back. ill prob need to dremal the hub off or at least cut some of it off because hammering it doesn't seem to be budging it at all. im going to take pics once i do the first one because ill prob have a better solution once i finish the first one. I'm sure I'm saving a lot of $$ by doing it myself but it is a pain so far. the wheel is completely seized right now after all the hammering because the back, where the lube for the bearing is located is hollow and very soft metal, but its broke anyway.i am running after market wheels but a smaller overall diameter with the tire right now, so I'm not sure how that effects the bearing abuse but its been 173k miles so far and this is the only major thing to go wrong. Cross your figuresi love this car, its not too hard to work on, its fun and lasts

[Zvibe04]

i had to pull my back hub a few months back bc i broke a wheel stud, the drum came off easy, the hub was a totally different story. i ended up beating it with the tire iron out of anger and i noticed that it moved, and i drenched it in penetrating oil too. i learned my lesson with usin the impact wrench to tighten my lugs, now im usin a torque wrench, like i should.