Anybody else have bad wheel barings?

i'm not sure if mine are bad but the other day i was driving on the freeway i felt a slight vibration. it felt like i was driving on a bumpy road but the road was completely smooth, but it was not enough vibration to make my steering wheel vibrate.

also, i can hear a slight grinding noise coming from the wheels

do you guys think its wheel barings?
how much to fix it?
can i fix it myself?

Thanks

 

sounds more like a tire/wheel out of balance or something like that. Generally you will not FEEL a bad bearing, you will HEAR it. Also possible that you have a blown strut.....

 

what kind of sound does a blown strut make? I do have stock suspension with 80k miles on it so if that is the problem time for full suspension?
the sound i'm hearing is like loose metal on metal ocassionally grinding and it only happens at certain speeds.

i don't think its a poorly balanced wheel because i've been on these tires and rims for 10k miles about and never felt this vibration before?

Thanks again.

 

yes, that sound sounds like a blown strut....I blew one of mine (on stock suspension) at about 50K miles....80k is alot of mileage if you're still on original struts.....

 

generally, u do feel a bad bearing..i replaced mine last week...u get the vibration at certain speeds

 

no, i don't think you do. atleast not generaly -- irish is right. i just had one of mine replaced today because the thing was damaged from an accident back in august of last year. it would make a high pitched intermitent noise which would get more frequent as i sped up.

 

so assuming that it is struts, what is the best solution? should i get new springs and struts all around? or only new struts?

 

well, it depends what you want. If you are happy with the stock height and stock ride quality, just get some OEM replacement struts (I would suggest Tokico "Blues"). If you want to lower the car, get new springs also. The stock springs should be fine - you just need new struts.

 

How much did you pay to replace them and where did you replace it from? I need new bearing as well.

 

crap, i don't think its my shocks. i put my car up on jack stands today and i wiggled each one left and right and the front passenger side wiggles left and right but the driver side is fine. how do i fix this?? i'm pretty sure this is the vibration that i feel on the fwy

 

I just got mine done, under extended warranty. There was grinding no vibrarion.

 

are wheel bearings covered under extended warranty?

 

Depends on the coverage of your extended warranty... check the terms in your documentation...

 

I called multiple dealerships and asked if my wheel bearings are covered under the silver security plus warranty (100k powertrain warranty through Nissan) and none of them would give me a straight answer. They all respond telling me that I should bring the car in so that they can diagnose what the problem is, then figure out if my bearings are covered under warranty, but no chance i'm going to do that... I don't want to risk having to pay the diagnosis fee again for them to do nothing to solve my problem.

I'm a college student and I don't really have the extra money to pay a stupid dealership to do nothing. Anybody have suggestions of what I should do?

Also, heres a link to the wheel with what I think is a bad wheel bearing: video

Is there a possibility that this could be something other than a bad wheel bearing?

Thanks.

 

I have some of these symptoms as well. I'm going to have my front-end checked out by Nissan soon, b/c I know it's not the balance (had that checked 3 times), and I want it done right the first time. If Nissan screws up, I can go back and yell until they fix it.

I'm about 95% sure that a couple of guys have said in the past that wheel bearings were actually covered under their powertrain warranty. If you have the extended warranty, it'll definitely be covered. One of the many Jasons on here had all of his done at 60k miles. They were covered under his extended warranty.

 

thanks for the quick reply!

I'll probably bring my car in tomorrow morning. Did you look at the video clip? does yours do the same thing?

I also noticed while i had the car jacked up that this tire was worn down a little more than the others. I just bought these tires too...

 

Wow. I just watched the video. Mine is not NEARLY that bad. You better get that thing fixed right away. Sounds like your wheel is about to fall off. And you know you can damage the hub if you let the bearing go too long. You will then need to spend a lot more $$$ if for some reason it's not covered.

Nice wheels though.

 

I have a '02 Max SE, and notice a slight grind/vibration when turning. It happens when I turn in either direction and at moderate to higher speeds. If I turn quite slowly, it doesn't make the noise. I also get feedback through the steering wheel and footboard. It's not harsh at all, just noticeable. Not the feel I expect from Nissan's flagship car. I suspect either wheel bearings or struts? Anyone else with similar symptoms?

 

A sign of bad wheel bearings can be HEARD if the wheel(s) make a "mum-mum" sound while driving. It's more noticeable at lower speed around 30-40 mph. Whichever side it's coming from, it's best to get it replaced ASAP, or then the other side will soon go bad. Some say it's best to do both at the same time on the same axle, but if you replace it fast enough, you shouldn't have any problems.

 

I could be wrong, but if it's only when turning, it may actually be a bad CV shaft. That'll make an annoying thump-thump-thump type of sound, and you will feel a slight "shudder" every second or so (it will coincide with the noise). How many miles on your car?

 

I bet if he tries to get it taken care of under warranty, that the rims will be blamed for the failure. Who wants to bet?

Need to get those WB fixed mang...thats horrific from what I saw!

 

well, dropped it off today... we'll see what the verdict is tomorrow.

 

Good Luck to ya man...hopefully youll get good service and not the typical Nissan service.

 

i've got $20 that says they'll come back with "cannot reproduce"

 

somebody should have taken up XGaSpAcHo with his bet, cause they are going to cover it under warranty!!! woohooo!

And they're going to replace the transmission under warranty too! i'm happy.

 

damn i outta go get mine checked out then. i have this LOUD scraping noise coming from the left rear wheel.

 

I did replace mine rear wheel bearing ~2 years ago. I bought the whole wheel bearing assembly at nissan dealer for ~$120, i replaced it myself, pretty ease, atleast the rear one.

 

yea i would recommend that you bring it in to get it fixed. you should also do as much inspection that you can to confirm that its a bad wheel bearing or something else that might be covered under warranty.

i'm so relieved that they fixed it without any hesitation. the day i brought it in they acknowledged that there was something wrong with the bearing and the next day they started work on it and they just started work on the transmission and confirmed that everything would be covered under warranty. the service manager also told me that it should be ready by next week.

he also told me that i need to change my fan belts. anybody know how to change those?

Thanks

 

Might as well just have them do the belts while they're doing everything else. Since everything else is free, you can afford to drop a few $$ on the belts. It really shouldn't be that expensive. And it's all labor--belts cost almost nothing.

 

well they want $200 plus some change to change the fan belts? is that a normal price?

Thanks

 

$200 seems a bit steep. My local Nissan dealer charged me $129 to change the belts. Not sure why yours is $70 higher, but you may want to ask. If you don't want to take a shot at doing it yourself, you could also bring it somewhere private and see how much they'll charge.

 

whee i got my car back after they fixed the transmission and the wheel bearing. only drove it for 5 mins, so far so good! thanks nissan for picking up my $3000 tab

now time to replace fan belts

 

My wheel alignment shop said that my bad wheel bearing was keeping the car from being properly aligned. Anybody know if this is a possible symptom?

 

yea, my left rear wheel is doing the SAME exact thing. sounds like loose metal on metal scraping, but the sound is stopped while the brakes are applied. Best believe i'm checking out the extended warranty tomorrow. Not that my warranty has ever covered anything, but wtf. might as well try again. Right now the noise is more of an embarrassment than anything, but it can't be anything good going on back there.

 

Have an 05 Maxima with 53,000 miles and both barings are gone! Isn't this a little too soon for this to happen? Car has been garaged and well maintained........

 

Yes, have a 05 Maxima w/53,000 miles and both barings are supposedly gone! Doesn't that seem a little soon?

Thx

 

are you sure its the bearings?

and pay attention to the last post date. it was over 5 years ago. also try the 6th gen section.

B

 

Yea way to bring back an old thread but I was told if there is a lot of play at 12 and 6 o clock its probably bearing.

 

Yes, having to think it's the bearings because the Maxima dealer told us that and a second service station, the same. Want $700 to fix them - I just can't believe with 53,000 miles it's time?????????