Just thought I would relay my experience, as wheel bearings are a common maintenance item on these cars.
Rear Wheel Bearings- $79.94
My rear wheel bearings went out at 149,500 miles. Replacement was a fairly simple bolt on process, parts were MOOG wheel bearing and hub assembly (Part # 512512 for AWD) off of eBay for $79.94 total for two complete hubs. I believe I have written about their replacement in another post. I had torn rear CV boots, so I replaced both rear axle shafts at the same time.
Front Wheel Bearings- $288.75
My front wheel bearing went out at 157,500 miles. I couldn’t figure out which side was making the noise as it did not change when steering right or left. After searching this forum and watching a shadetree mechanic and a professional mechanic replace the front wheel bearings, I decided I didn’t have the proper tools (mainly a press and the patience to chisel out the wheel bearing retaining clip) to replace the wheel bearings myself.
I had three options:
1) Take it to a shop. Replacement of both front wheel bearings would have been $712 + tax, so figure $750.
2) Buy a complete MOOG steering knuckle/hub/bearing assembly off of Rock Auto. Cost would have been about $325 total, plus an $89.95 alignment. So total cost of $415.
3) Remove the steering knuckles myself, and take it to a machine shop to have the bearings removed and new ones pressed on. I estimated the total cost for this to be $300 (parts + labor + alignment).
I went with option 3. Here were my costs and part numbers:
$33.23- 2x wheel bearings (ACDelco FW189- which is just a repackaged KOYO bearing, made in Japan, which is OE on this car, purchased from Amazon)
$6.54 -2x wheel bearing retaining ring (Dorman 933-103, O’Reilly Auto Parts)
$59.03- 2x wheel hubs* (Duralast 930-406; Autozone)
$100- machine shop labor ($50 per knuckle)
$89.95 Alignment (Goodyear Auto)
TOTAL COST - $288.75
TOTAL COST to replace all 4 front and rear wheel bearings- $368.69
*The surprise was the front wheel hub purchase. I haven’t seen anyone have to do this, but the machine shop said that removing the inner race of the bearing from the wheel hub would damage the hub, and he always recommends replacing the hub when installing new wheel bearings.
In retrospect, it would have been much easier (in terms of time driving around to parts stores and the machine shop and having the car out of service) to buy the complete knuckle+hub+bearing assembly from RockAuto, but the cost difference would have been about $125 more. But, I have OE wheel bearings that should last another 150,000+ miles, vs whatever bearing MOOG uses.
While I had it all apart, I noticed a leaking outer tie rod boot, and my driver’s side brake hose has worn down to the steel braiding where it rubs against the stabilizer link. So, I will be replacing that brake line (and probably encase the rubbed portion of that hose with a larger hose to prevent this from happening again) and both outer tie rod ends before I get the car aligned. Those tie rod ends are going to need a lot of PB blaster and heat as they are essentially welded in place by 17 years of rust…
It was also a good time to have my 10,000 mile rotors resurfaced as they developed a warp (a constant problem since I’ve owned this car) after 1,000 miles. It was time for new brake pads too. The calipers have already been replaced and slide smoothly on their pins. With new hubs, new wheel bearings, a clean mating surface between the hub + disc + wheel and the proper torque on the lug nuts, I’m hoping to finally have a brake pedal that doesn’t pulsate.
It is nice to have a quieter ride again.