Wheel Bearing Replacement

[SlightlyStoopid]

I have been hearing a constant winding sound from my 03 FX and just found out that it is the passenger front wheel bearing.
I have an Infiniti mechanic that is willing to wholesale me the parts and install for cheap.
My question is...
Should I also replace the drivers side since I am getting a deal?
Also, do the rears go bad as well? Maybe do em all?
Thanks in advance for the help.
Peace

 

[AeroBFA]

You may as well do the driver side at the same time, why not. To answer your question, yes the rears can go bad. My passenger side went out around 50k I think. I would just do the fronts and leave the rears for now.

 

[Chedman13]

I have been hearing a constant winding sound from my 03 FX and just found out that it is the passenger front wheel bearing.
I have an Infiniti mechanic that is willing to wholesale me the parts and install for cheap.
My question is...
Should I also replace the drivers side since I am getting a deal?
Also, do the rears go bad as well? Maybe do em all?
Thanks in advance for the help.
Peace

Sorry aerobfa, have to disagree =)

1) Dealership is around $500 per side w/ labor and parts, so it should be cheaper than that.
2) Only replace what is broken. Your passenger side can go bad 1 mile later or 50,000 miles later. I had one go out at 90,000 miles and I'm at 120,000 miles now and the passenger side is still fine.
3) The rears do go bad, but you should be able to hear of feel any play if the bearing is bad. Pretty much sounds like an airplane taking off. I'm at 120,000 miles as I said and the rears have not failed.
4) There is a ABS sensor that is pretty fragile, and after time can become brittle and break. It is attached to the hub and can be re-used. If it's really bad, I would change that if he can't re-attach it. Or else you'll end up with ABS, SLIP, AWD lights on your dash. It's about a $200 part.

There are no labor savings by doing all or just one. Each are separate so no time savings -- therefore just do them as they fail.

 

[AeroBFA]

I figure since he can get install for cheap, might as well, do the fronts. Good points, since it can go bad at 50K or not at 120K, I guess servicing one at a time is the most cost effective. Good thing I didn't suggest all four, lol.

 

[Chedman13]

I figure since he can get install for cheap, might as well, do the fronts. Good points, since it can go bad at 50K or not at 120K, I guess servicing one at a time is the most cost effective. Good thing I didn't suggest all four, lol.

Naw, your point is valid.

Especially the busier you get, time is more valuable than waiting for something to fail.

Having to take the car in once and get both done saves a few hours, or even your day.

My suggestion is just $$$ driven =)

 

[ThE Fx 45 BeAsT]

both are valid points I guess it depends on the owner, if was me I would to the fronts. kind of like replacing tires or light bulbs, replace in pairs but it relys on the owner and either way makes sense.

 

[tchuck]

I used to be a believer in doing both sides at once, but lately I've been leaning the other way. The main reason being the method of failure. When a wheel bearing dies it's generally a long slow process, wherein you start to hear a little something, then you feel it, then it get's louder, etc... A process which gives you plenty of time to source the bearing, save up if you need to, and find time to perform the work. Never is it really a dangerous condition (99% of the time) and there's really no way to tell whether your bearing will last 50 or 150K miles until you experience the symptoms.If you take twice as many hard left turns as rights during your daily commute, you could very well replace two right bearings before needing a left. I've argued the reverse point (with Chedman13 ironically) in the past but after some more thought and another wheel bearing failure/replacement cycle on my other car ($190 in parts alone), I have officially changed my mind. Henceforth I'll be replacing wheel bearings individually as needed.

---------- Post added at 01:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------

both are valid points I guess it depends on the owner, if was me I would to the fronts. kind of like replacing tires or light bulbs, replace in pairs but it relys on the owner and either way makes sense.

With tires and light bulbs the service life is much more predictable, and the performance degrades relative to their age/wear. Not so with wheel bearings. One could out last another 2 to 1 with no perceivable decrease in performance. Another difference is that both tires and bulbs fail in a catastrophic manner, whereas bearings do so relatively slowly.

 

[WietseFX35]

I think it depends on the owner, i also think in the way of doing both sides with such things.
I know my front driver side bearing is getting bad as the one on the passenger side is still ok.
The one on the driver side is noisy, runs a bit tight but there is no play on the wheel.

Workwise it is good to do both sides, after you did one the other will go much faster as you know how and what to do.
If you have to do it again a year later you already forgot the procedure.
Or maybe it's my short term memory

 

[jumbosrule]

I used to be a buy in pairs kind of guy but my own learning process ended up demanding I buy them "as required".

I'm on my 3rd set of front hubs - the reason for changing them out was all my fault - I modified them to work with a BBK, decided to replace those with an un-modified junkyard set and didn't realize they were bad. I have since returned to the un-modified OEM part (manufactured by Timkin) and have no issues anymore. Here's the DIY I wrote along with another one for AWD for those that are interested - note there are differences between 35/45, RWD/AWD and first and second gen, but these steps don't change that much for the different platforms. the hub part number would be different. Anybody could do this using the essential steps in these threads.

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