3 Wheel Bearings Replaced in 1 Year

T

theZD

Member
As of today, I've replaced 3 wheel bearings in 1 year.

Right front: 1 a year ago and 1 today
Left front: 1 a week ago

My mechanic told me today that the right front hub looks like it might need to be replaced soon and that *might* be the reason for the wheel bearing going out after just one year...but the problem there is the hub itself is $200 from Mazda and it's not made aftermarket (can anyone confirm?) Luckily he didn't even charge me a penny for the replacement today; he's great!

Hoping to avoid replacing $400+ worth of bearings each year...anyone have any input as to what could cause this? I've been searching the forums for a bit now and it seems like it's somewhat of a common problem but not much as far as resolution...possibly a high rate of bearing failure with P5s? Bad hubs? Just old age? heh...
 
How hard are you on the car? if you're powersliding and autocrossing the car, going over michigan roads frequently, or frequenting the dragstrip, that could explain it.
 
same here

my 02 p5 had a similar problem with the bearings. One week three of them started to make a loud droning noise like those old bombers. The car is third time used, so i bet the first owner was getting it sideways in the corners.
 
I drive the s*** out of mine in terms of taking turns hard and cornering and my bearings are fine. Probably not for long though haha!
 
Do you have stock rims?

Aftermarket rims may have issues with the hub cover. My rims were too tight and would rip off the hub cover, causing it to leak. Some winter salt got in there and rusted the bearings pretty bad. Only 1 replaced bearing (right rear) to date (2003 ProES).
 
Hey guys, thanks for the replies and sorry for the delay in getting back.

I do occasionally drive it "hard" but not powersliding or anything crazy like that and really not very often at all. And I'm in Missouri so obviously the roads are bad (hehe) but again, not horrible and mostly just after the Winter (now.)

I also have stock rims.

Hopefully this isn't something that happens every year although I suppose if that's the only thing that goes bad, $250/year isn't too horrible, heh.
 
how do you powerslide a FWD car? HAHAHAHA


Sorry, that's all I've got. But I agree w/ the mechanic, it COULD be the hub. It could also be that he replaced the 1st one incorrectly (didn't press it in properly, etc)
 
When I had my P5 I had it for 130,000 km over 5 yrs.

Never had any problems with them. I also ran stock and non-stock wheels, and of course track days.
 
If you were running aftermarket wheels (granted yours are stock), make sure the offset is comparable to stock (i.e. high). Else can add to the uneven loading of the bearings.
 
my 00 pro had this same issue, but i always assumed it was from aftermarket wheels as well. i had them since I had purchased the car but during the time that i owned it, i replaced three of them.
 
My shop recently told me that it looked like the bearings that went bad, and later had too be replaced had been installed by being hammered in. They said fitting them by pressing them in was the appropriate thing to do; in other words the last shop might not have had the right tool for the job.
 
yellowP5Kentucy said:
My shop recently told me that it looked like the bearings that went bad, and later had too be replaced had been installed by being hammered in. They said fitting them by pressing them in was the appropriate thing to do; in other words the last shop might not have had the right tool for the job.
Click to expand...
yeah I'm getting ready to do a front bearing. I wondered about trying to hammer it in myself. So I guess it's "possible" to do it, but why risk a $30 bearing and the re-do hassle. Just get it pressed in somewhere. I could hammer out the old one and cut the race remnants off the hub to save them some time I guess? Sometimes I maybe take too much pride in being able to say "I've done all the work on it - never took it anywhere except for tires".
 
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^It shouldn't cost too much to have one pressed in at a shop, and I bet that some auto part stores do it too. Why risk having to go to the hassle of taking it all apart again when it is only really one small part of the job you are having someone else do, and they would be using the right tools.
 
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