seems like its on its way out. went to the local shop just to get a quote. i was told around 400 bux, as the part is 112 and labor is about 3 hours. he said i can get the part and he will do the labor, but still looking at 3 bills. i know its a press in bearing, is it a PITA?

 

Not sure if you are talking about the rear or the front ones, but I've done both the rear passenger and driver side ones. Not really a big deal. Got them from Amazon.com.

 

Labor should be 1 hr max. Find another shop. I had my local tire shop do it w/ OEM parts from Dave B.

 

front

i thought the 3 hrs of labor seemed excessive, i guess i will be doing this in my buds driveway, along with that coilpack, and that o2 sim

 

For some reason I thought the front ones were more labor intensive to replace than the rear ones.

EDIT: You might wanna check prices online too. You could do better than the $112 for the part.

 

Front wheel bearing takes a bit longer than 1 hour. Ask me how I know.

It's really not a difficult job. Just tedious. The most frustrating part for me was getting the old inner racing off of the hub.

Oh, also, if you've never done a Nissan bearing before, remove the C-locks on the front and back of the wheel hub (they're hard to see at first glance) before you try and press the bearing out. I didn't, and I accidentally snapped the whole front of the hub off. It also warped the hub, due to the pressure, so the new bearing wore out within about 10,000 miles.

Last thing, $112 for a bearing from where? I got mine from AutoZone for $60...

 

In January, I had my mechanic replace both tie-rod end-links (MOOG) and both front wheel bearings (OEM). I spent $450 parts and labor.

$100+ for OEM bearings.

 

this. 112 was list price for oem. i will try and look at it next weekend, i need to get my car together soon as my inspection is due in november...i am gonna miss the abs and check engine light though!

 

How do you know when they are getting bad/bad?

 

If you hear a grinding noise, then you've probably had the problem for a while. Long before it gets to that point, you could feel a shaking at some particular speed, not unlike a wheel being unbalanced.

However, the most direct way to diagnose this is to get the car up in the air and grab a hold of the wheel while still mounted to the car. Try to rock it back and forth. There should be zero play in that particular motion. If there is some play, then the wheel bearing on that corner is on its way out. There's no real reason to replace both sides at the same time, because there's no cost-savings... twice the parts, twice the work. But if one is going, rest assured the other isn't far behind.

That's my understanding of failing wheel bearings. If I'm off-base, someone chime in and school me.

djfrestyl seems to be an excellent resource for questions like this. I think he's in NJ, and you're in Long Island, right? Something to consider, Hotshot.

 

Just gave my local shop the entire hub/spindle thing and they put in a new bearing(they provided) for 75.

 

3 hours is not really an eccesive charge. you have to realize that most labor times are not going to reflect the actual time it take to do the job.

 

Just to note that a bad ball joint will cause play in the same manner. You do need to actually look to see which component has the play.



OP: If you want to save some duckets, take the knuckle&hub assembly off yourself (DO NOT TRY TO REMOVE THE ABS SENSOR, JUST UNPLUG IN AND FEED THE WIRE THROUGH), and then take it to the shop, that way they just need to press the old one out and press a new one in.

Doing it this way should cost less than $150 if they provide the part, or somewhere there-abouts.

Pressing the bearing in and out is NOT something you're going to do in your driveway, but all the other work you can, and it's that other work that is the bulk of the labour.

 

Thanks for the bigger picture, Tuner.

 

When you remove the hub and reassemble, do you need a re-alignment?

My front drivers side is going out, it is making the wobble noises. I have not done any of the front suspension parts either. Debating if I should have the suspension gone through and everything replaced/upgraded at the same time.

 

^ Yes you're supposed to reallign every time you take off any of the following:

1. Tie rods
2. ball joints
3. lower strut mount bolts (that mount to the knuckle assembly)

Personally I don't feel its necessary unless you pull the strut mount bolts, which, you will be. You can readjust these yourself, FYI, you're adjusting the camber when you move those bolts.

 

Labor time should be approx 2 hours at a shop, realistically it will take approx .5-1 hour depending on the techs skill but people are in business to make money.

You will not need an alignment since the tie rod is just removed from the knuckle not actually moved in/out on the inner tie rod, also the camber is not adjustable from the factory so unless you have aftermarket struts that allow camber adjustment then don't worry.

 

i agree with tuner...its what i did

 

My 2K Maxima has 107K miles and never been replace.My question is how many miles front or rear bearing last?

 

There IS adjustment in the knuckle and lower strut mount. If you've ever had it apart, you'd know that the bolts are not a machined fit, as such, the camber is affected by the specific positioning of those bolts when they're tightened. This is part of the reason macpherson lower strut mounts are designed to 'pinch' the knuckle. Also the reason you are supposed to hold the head of the bolt and tighten the nut only, that way once positioned, the turning motion while tightening won't change the positioning.

You are however correct that the manufacturer did not incorporate a well known or easy adjustment, such that you may find on a tie rod, etc. But that doesn't mean it isn't adjustable

 

I stand by what I said. I just did 2 struts today and the camber was not adjustable.

 

^ I'm glad you're comfortable in that belief sir. Unfortunately that doesn't change the fact that you're wrong.

Normally the lower strut bolts are set up with a bit of Negative camber (fractions of a degree) this is in an effort to reduce Camber gain effects while turning/body roll.

A car that is tracked more with Macpherson Struts will have very high Negative camber.

personally I am stuck running positive static camber because otherwise my tires rub the coilovers. I need spacers

 

I've never replaced any ball joins or tie rod ends and I am thinking when I get in there I am going to see these that need replacement as well as the stock suspension/bushings.

I have 112k on the car and have not touched the suspension yet.

 

I have seen this on other cars where you can make adjustments where the strut attaches to the knuckle.