Is my wheel bearing toast?

[livelyjay]

Noticed this after the last autocross event, and after divisionals this weekend it seemed to get worse. I've never experienced a bad wheel bearing before, so I wanted to check here and see what everyone thought. Here's the deal. When I'm driving straight down the road there is an extremely faint grinding noise. At first I thought it was my brakes, like a frozen caliper, but the rotor temps on both fronts are similar. Now when I turn the wheel in either direction the sound gets significantly louder. It almost sounds like drum brakes when the shoes are nearing end of life. So, is this my wheel bearing or something else? How long do I have till my wheel falls off?

[Flspeed]

Just lift the car and spin the wheel. If it is that loud you will notice a bad bearing by just spinning the wheel. Are you talking front or back?

[livelyjay]

Front wheel. I'll get it in the air today and check it out. Is this a DIY repair or do I have to take it in?

[Flspeed]

DIY, The bearing is like $55 I think. Make sure you get a good grease pack before you pu the new one in and clean all the old grease out.

[Flspeed]

Oh, one other thing. grab the wheel when you have it in the air and see if it has any travel in the back and fore motion going up to down not side to side. Side to side would be a different issue.

[livelyjay]

Oh, one other thing. grab the wheel when you have it in the air and see if it has any travel in the back and fore motion going up to down not side to side. Side to side would be a different issue.

I wouldn't have passed tech Friday if I did have top and bottom travel. Right now it's just grinding noise. I can get the bearing for cheaper, just have to clarify the part number through bagman. Please explain grease pack? What grease do I use?

[livelyjay]

Also, what tools do I need ... gear puller, etc?

[Flspeed]

I think Napa sells a bearing packer for cheap. Its basicly a tool that will allow you to push grease through the bearing. I havent done a front bearing on these cars only a rear hub but on most cars if you take off the wheel then take off the transaxle nut. You will probably have to remove the transaxle and tap the bearing out the back of the hub. I would go to your local Mazda service for more details.

[bhosMSPRO]

i just had to replace a front wheel bearing on my MSP.. the axle was seized into the hub so we had to use a 20ton press to get the axle out of the hub.. the bearing is going to need pressed back into the hub but a shop will do it for cheap, or if you know someone with a bearing press.. as long as the axle isnt seized into the hub, its a fairly easy job to get done

[livelyjay]

i just had to replace a front wheel bearing on my MSP.. the axle was seized into the hub so we had to use a 20ton press to get the axle out of the hub.. the bearing is going to need pressed back into the hub but a shop will do it for cheap, or if you know someone with a bearing press.. as long as the axle isnt seized into the hub, its a fairly easy job to get done

Would a gear puller, like one you buy from Harbor Freight be good enough to pull the hub off of the axle? The sound started about 1.5 weeks ago, but then I put a double day auto-x event on it, which was 10 runs total with R-comps. How do you get the hub back onto the axle? I need to know quick because I am thinking I might just take it in and get it done before the event this weekend.

[bhosMSPRO]

-i would say the gear puller would work depending on the amount of pressure that you can put on them and if you can get a good enough leverage on the hub to pull on it.. my friends dad just used the bearing press to get it out, so if you know someone with one (or are taking it to a shop to get the old bearing pressed out and the new pressed in) i would just disconnect the axle from the tranny (if possible) and get the person to just push the axle out as well.. this was my last option, i didnt try a gear puller on mine, i used heat, hammers, slide hammer, and a few other things and none of them worked.. it might cost you some extra money at a shop if you go this route but if its the only option, you cant do much about it.

-getting the hub back into the axle is simple.. the axle just slides back through the hub, put the axle nut on, and assemble the rest of the stuff you have taken off

[bhosMSPRO]

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123696359

--i posted up a thread about how to get the axle out, and this write up was useful.. Thanks ForceFed

[livelyjay]

So I've decided to just get it done at the shop. They quoted 1.6 hours of labor, $38 for the part, and I found a 10% coupon for the job. So it should be close to $180 after the discount and labor (edit ->) and tax.

[bhosMSPRO]

not a bad deal at all.. a lot of people have run into problems doing the wheel bearing in these so thats a pretty good choice

[livelyjay]

I read online that you're supposed to repack your wheel bearings every 30k miles. Is that true? That's some pain in the ass maintenance, but it might be worth it to not have to replace them every 70k miles.

[bhosMSPRO]

not too sure honestly.. ive only owned my car a little over a year so this is the first time something like this has happened to me.. i was planning on doing some upkeep to it while i have it parked this winter, if thats the case, i might as well go ahead and do that, or just replace all of them.

[livelyjay]

They replaced the wheel bearing and the noise went away, so that was indeed the problem. Now my ABS light is on. Does that go out eventually or is it on for a reason? Can I fix it myself or do I have to take it back to the shop?

[bhosMSPRO]

my ABS light didnt come on after doing my bearing.. maybe they unhooked it when they disassembled everything and forgot to hook it back up?

-EDIT: I unclipped my ABS sensor when doing mine so the shop could have damaged it (hopefully not) or just unhooked it completely and forgot to hook it back up.. thats all i can think of right now

[livelyjay]

my ABS light didnt come on after doing my bearing.. maybe they unhooked it when they disassembled everything and forgot to hook it back up?

-EDIT: I unclipped my ABS sensor when doing mine so the shop could have damaged it (hopefully not) or just unhooked it completely and forgot to hook it back up.. thats all i can think of right now

I think it's either just not hooked up or the connection is loose. I'm putting it in the air tonight to check it out. Otherwise it's going back tomorrow for them to figure it out. They destroyed my ball joint boot when pulling the spindle, so they had to replace that free of charge.

[bhosMSPRO]

yeah, i wouldnt think the ABS light is anything major.. if the shop did do something to mess it up, you know what to do lol

[Metallic36]

With bad wheel bearings, do you get any vibration? Got my MSP axle put in, but the vibration from hell is still there, but now it's more on the passenger side, and the ABS light is on (as it was the last time the shop put on the wrong cv axle).

[bhosMSPRO]

i got more noise than anything.. there was some vibration, more when slowing down and taking off than just driving at one speed

--this is the first time i ever had a bad wheel bearing so maybe a few more people will chime in to help ya out

[livelyjay]

So the shop broke my speed sensor and they are ordering a new one. The speed sensor works off and on, so it didn't affect the autocross this weekend.

The bad wheel bearing did not create any vibrations, just a grinding noise.