So today I took my car to the shop because I felt a fairly severe vibration at higher speeds on the highway and figured it was a wheel bearing. Knew exactly what it was because I've had one go bad on my previous car. When the shop had the car lifted, the tech called me out to the garage to show me just how bad it'd gotten. My front passenger side tire moved back and forth about 2 inches in each direction - almost like the lug nuts were loose. Also said that when he took off the bearing, it literally fell apart in his hand - said the car would have lasted another 5 miles or less.

My question is, should I expect the driver side bearing to need replacement soon as well? The tech said it was OK, but the one they replaced went bad in a matter of 2 days.

 

I had my passenger side bearing and hub replaced at I think roughly 90k miles. 50k miles later and all the bearings are still good.

I personally wouldn't worry about it until problems start to materialize, but that's just me.

 

Unfortunately I haven't had any luck with this car, and its been sucking my wallet dry. Everytime I get something fixed, something else breaks. Hopefully the other bearing will last a while longer then.

 

Did you hear a clunk too as a result of the bad bearing?

I have this uncontrollable clunk coming from my front pass side. It feels like the coilover is not rebounding at all on a bump. On bad bumps at higher speeds..the car feels like its going to break. I had the noise since the day I got the car, it stayed even after i switched to coilovers. Not the passenger motor mount either, no hop on acceleration.

Replaced the sway bar end links with MOOGs, and got ES swaybar bushings as well. I feel like its the bearing, since i do hear a whining noise on local roads from the pass side.

How much did it run you?

 

Was more of a rattle/vibration at speeds above 50. You can actually check the wheel bearings yourself to see if they're good or not by lifting up the car with a jack. If the wheel moves in and out (on a vertical axis), your bearing is bad. (This is just a very basic test, as there still could be hidden problems with the bearing, but a loose tire is the most significant sign that you need a new one, and fast.) The small shop I took it to charged me $252 for the part and install. Took them an hour to install it. Dealer wanted $570 and said they wanted the car for the whole day and possibly overnight (so they could charge more for labor)

If you've got clunking, you've probably got a tie rod going bad, or a sway bar going bad. I see that you've replaced them, but it is possible that you've got a faulty part. I'd suggest finding a small shop to look at your suspension. They should be able to give you a free estimate (just don't sign any paperwork with an amount due on it. lol)

(very pretty car, btw - love the white)

 

Thanks, I did the vertical test and theres virtually no play at all. My next step would be to replace my tie rod ends, the sway bar bushing feels firm and the sb bushing I replaced had no cracks in it.

The sad part is I've gone to a few places and all have given me different answers, from the brand new coilovers being blown (yet I got them thinking it was my struts ), to passenger motor mount, to endlinks, to LCA bushings. Clueless.

Thanks, I wish it came in black interior though .