wheel bearings- how often do they go bad?

[TriTom]

Anyone have any Wb stories? My left frt was bad at 52K.....say what? Other 3 are tight as a drum.......560 bucks later for 3 hrs labor.....

[Traveller]

Originally Posted by TriTom

My left frt was bad at 52K.....say what?

I could believe that if it were a "replacement" and improper bearing installation techniques were used, but I doubt Porsche would have an issue with that since its a factory install...I would assume at that mileage.

Bearings fail due to:

• poor quality, quality control
• improper installation techniques
• lubrication issues
• improper servicing techniques where the bearing is subject to blows/pounding
• bearing being overloaded; taken beyond design limits

They easily go 180K miles. I'm at 139K miles on my daily driver...original bearings.

[TriTom]

Thanks Alex. Could it be from hitting some potholes (or just one), so hard that it began the break-down process much earlier than 139K? Other than being flat defective...? Your reasons noted above are appreciated but don't apply in the case of this C2-

I guess my core question is: does anyone know about how long it should take the expert P-car wrench to change out a wheel bearing, and does that have to include draining old brake fluid and putting in new fluid ? Thanks in advance for any thoughts......

[993PorschePower]

My left rear went out on me around 200K miles.


Ken

[Traveller]

Originally Posted by TriTom

Could it be from hitting some potholes (or just one), so hard that it began the break-down process much earlier than 139K?

Highly unlikely. The tire and suspension will absorb that.

Bad luck, I guess. I can't comment on replacement time; I haven't needed to replace mine yet.

[jpachard]

On a track car, every season. There was a bad batch of bearings around for a while which can also explain the premature wear.

Cheers, James

[LARRY SHARP]

I just had my fronts replaced.. Took the mechanic two hours for each side. Book says 5 hours total for both. Pretty sure they were original bearings and they had 205 k on them

[porterdog]

Just pulled my fronts at 125k as part of a comprehensive suspension makeover. The were fine, but the grease was obviously dry.

[dick911]

I just changed the front rightside one with 152.000 km on my 964 C20.
Made a lot of noise but no play to feel by hand turning the wheel/wobbling the wheel.

Easy job with de right tools...

Dick911

[AOW162435]

My right front bearing had a slight roughness that I could only feel by turning the hub flange by hand. It seemed to stay the same since purchasing the car in '05, but I decided to replace both fronts last year. Simple procedure with the correct SIR Tools bearing kit. At the time, the car had around 54,000 miles.

On the flip side, my 2001 4Runner is now at 255,000 miles and is still on its original bearings (all four corners). I purchased the truck new.


Andreas