legacycentral bbs

Recently my car went in for an alignment and they rotated my tires. In doing so they broke off one of the bolts holding on the wheel. Then they told me that it was ok to just drive around with 4 out of 5 lugs on. I told them to fix it so the told me to come back in 2 hours. I did so and the mechanic said that he had "repacked" my wheel bearings. I said ok whatever and got out of there. So the last few weeks the drivers side rear has been making this noise while driving. The sound is like a faint droning and is related to the speed of the car. So I was wondering if the mechanic might have screwed something up or do wheel bearinds tend to fail over 100,000 miles. Thanks.

My car seems to have exceptional longevity for certain parts, but my wheel bearings are all original. These bearings shouldn't need to be repacked - I'm sure they're sealed. Check the lug nuts again to make sure they're not loose.

Steve

I just checked the lugs and they were all fine. All the work was done at NTB and I gotta say they are the most incompetent bunch of people. Any other ideas?

Wheel bearings are sealed.

Driving with a lug nut missing will not damage your wheel bearing, my LR wheel has had at least 6k miles put on it missing a wheelstud (broke one a couple years ago and has another broken one now) and that wheel bearing is quiet.

However, I have two bad wheel bearings, and one of them, I'm 99% sure, is because I hammered the wheelstuds out of it, so I think I hit the bearing out of round. It's so loud I can't drown it out with my radio.

I bet that's what happened here and they're trying to cover their ass by implying the bearing was bad when it came in.

Steve

Why can't driving with 4 of 5 lugs harm your wheel bearing?

Also subaru wheel bearings are notorious for going bad, and although not recommended it is a good idea to repack them ocassionally. I'm pretty sure if they did repack them, they didnt do it right. Either didn't use the right grease, or didnt use the correct method to press it back into place, most likely just used an impact hammer or something. Maybe both.

Hardy,

The newer impreza bearings are known for going bad. Typically you don't hear a lot of complaints about the first gen legacies.

Also, those that have been replaced and have them fail are due to the fact that mechanics didn't know that the grease they were shipped in was only packing grease.

How do you repack the bearings if they're sealed and on the car?

maybe they beat the living piss out of it to get the stud out, and I can't see how the precision bearing seal would be serviceable without pulling the whole thing apart, which is not necessary to replace the wheel stud.

I usually consider sealed bearing to be not serviceable, if the bearing seal comes off it is usually because the cage has broken (the cage keeps the balls evenly spaced)

If I were you I'd pull that wheel and have a look at the bearing. if the seal is a mess they probably hosed it up, jammed some grease in there and closed it up.

It is easier to trash a bearing than most people think, even minute dents in the race due to hammering can take the bearing out.

Legacy777 wrote:Hardy,

The newer impreza bearings are known for going bad. Typically you don't hear a lot of complaints about the first gen legacies.

I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts if at least one of your bearings isn't bad they're about on its last leg. The subaru mechainc up in the hills here says he replaces the legacy line (leg, imp, for, etc) bearings fairly often.

I asked buckner about replacing the rear bearings on the hubs I took off.....he said they don't replace many early legacy rear bearings.

Never replaced here even with vibrating bent wheels and warped rotors.

Steve

Well it sounds like they can last a fair amount of time provided they are not messed with . Too bad mine were "repacked" by the incompetent people at NTB. I guess I'll have my mechanic check it out when I go in for a new steering rack.

I think the bearings that the mechanic replaces are mainly fronts, but I'm not sure. I have about 190k on my car, and I'm pretty sure my front is the first to go. My rears are silent.