Hey all,

Hope everyone's good in the run-up to Xmas, at this rate I will be eating used car part stew on the 25th as the p*xy things are costing me a fortune!

Some of you may remember my thread a while back where it turned out I had a NSR wheel bearing needed replacing on my ST (55 plate, 38k if that makes any odds). Have recently had 4 new tyres on her and the noise came back - I have taken it to a garage who have charged me £129 for the pleasure of having a NSF bearing replacement (even though I told them i thought it was the OSR), and guess what it still drones. I have a couple of questions -

Firstly has anyone else had this happen to them with 2 bearings in a month (I had read when one goes the other should be replaced), and am I wrong in thinking the car is a little low mileage for this?

Does anyone know what causes this, have read dirt can be a factor - where I work I may as well sell it rather than try to keep it clean.

Lastly - have I been mugged off by this garage? He did the work within 40 minutes (too quick i thought?), ignoring what I'd asked him to do, and now I have to take it somewhere else to have a 3rd one replaced within a month

Any thoughts welcome, cheers guys and girls...

Do you have original wheels? A quick Google gave this:

"Excess Load
The wrong wheels for a particular suspension design can cause the bearings to fail from the excess load being placed on them. This will usually be from wheels that stick out too far from the suspension because of an aggressive, incorrect offset."

Thanks for replying, they could well be original (only bought it last August)- the last set of tyres I took off the back had worn funny, more on the inside than the outside as well - could this be connected? I'm not very handy with cars so please bear with me. I have got the rear track spacers in the cupboard which I never got round to having fitted - could this help?

worn tyres and bearings going, me thinks the two are connected, something out of shape, bent or broken.

Maybe an alignment issue...

I reckon if the tyres are wearing and the bearings are failing then there must be a serious issue somewhere else. I'm pretty sure bearings shouldn't be failing at that mileage. Do you not know any friendly mechanics who can have a quick look for free?

To be honest the tyres I've had done at a different place to the (first lot of) bearings, so I could mention it when I take it back to get the other rear bearing done and see what they may come up with? This sounds like it's gonna get expensive...

http://www.kwik-fit.com/looking-after-tyres.asp

Maybe worth trying for a free check up? Try taking somebody who knows a bit about cars in case they try to fill you with sh*t though!

Forty mins seems quite quick to remove the front hub and remove the old bearing and press in a new bearing then reassemble, its not uncommon for a wheel bearing to go, and you don't have to replace both on the rear or front at the same time. A good mechanic should be able to tell which bearing is noisy by jacking up the car and spinning the wheel, it will grumble and feel rough whilst been rotated, failing that a road test should give him a rough idea of where the noise is coming from, always ask the garage that does the work to show you the part that has been replaced, you could take the wheel off yourself and have a look at the balljoint nuts and strut bolts as they should have been removed if the hub has been removed to replace the front bearing.

Cheers g4vvu, I'll take the other half along who knows more than me (just the sight of a bloke seems to stop a lot of the crap talk!).

Thanks Tez, I thought it was quick too... My other half had a look at it (admittedly in the dark) and said there doesn't even seem to be a handprint on the (admittedly dirty) wheel. I'm going to ring them up tomorrow and ask why the car still makes the noise when they said it wasn't the rear wheel so changed the front - only problem is I don't really wanna take the car back there so will be a bit of a pointless exercise. Also going to jack it up and check it is that rear wheel, if it is I feel a sh*t fit coming on!

40 minutes isnt quick if you have the right tools, trust me, ive done it in that time on my saxo and im not a mechanic. do you know the full history of the car, IE was it a write off that someone has bodged back together, ever been involved in an accident, as this could be behind the problem. also how do you drive your car and what are the roads like you drive on. hitting bumps hard can cause the slightest dint in your bearing casing and over time, as the bearing runs over the dint, it grows and the humming sound you are hearing is the noise of each bearing passing over that one small dint repeatedly.

some garages will rip you off like theres no tomorrow and its a hard choice which one to go for. small scruffy independant garages charging £20 for MOTS are usually bad for this as they need to replace parts to get the money as they dont charge enough for the MOT. Also see if your local town/village has a forum you can ask for reputable garages in the area and which ones are the best to stay away from

hope this helps

I have to disagree with Harper on this one about small scruffy independant garages, its not what the garage looks like but how good the mechanic is who works and runs it. Smaller independants dont have the overheads that larger garages and main dealers have so can normally keep costs down, my cousins labour rate is about £35 an hour compared to the local dealers £60 an hour, most garages make money on parts as they buy the parts trade and charge the customer retail.
Wheel bearings normally whine because they go dry or get water into the race or are overtightened, it would be hard to dint a wheel bearing in my opinion.

does this car drive in a straight line, does it reverse ok, get on a big car park and drive it forward and backwards on full lock see if any noises, grinding, anything that doesn't sound right to you. Rock the wheels by hand from top to bottom, jack it up and do it, just some basic checks anyone can do.

Guys debating the garages to use (thanks for all your replies) - both garages I have used - the one I like and then the one I went to yesterday - are quite decent and both have done work on our other cars for us (the garage I'm having the problem with did quite a bit for us last week on another car hence why I thought I'd give them this to do as they are just round the corner).

I really don't understand why he would just put it down to brake pad rub and not do the bearing like I asked when i'm 95% sure he's wrong based on the last wheel....

H47PER I did an RAC HPI check - all clear! Glad of that but another £13.50 down the pan lol. Roads round here aren't the worst and we don't rag her too much - she usually gets to stretch her legs doing a 20 mile trip or so once a week and then usually 10 miles a day. Keeping it clean is a losing battle where we work though which I think could be a factor?

isnt HPI finance check?? other than what ive said, dont really think i can shed any light on this subject other than i hope it wasnt in a crash and fixed away from insurers so it didnt get registered. and if this was the case, could it be possible it may be the chasse twisted?

hpi tells you if your cars ever been written off, stolen, resprayed, had the number plate changed, the VIN number, if any finance is owed on it or if its been in a major collision (if they have been reported that is)

O I just thought it was finance and was a separate check for he rest

This seems a right pain in the ass Hope you get it all sorted soon

I've had my CV joint replaced a few months ago and when it went in for an MOT last month it needed the opososite side bearing done, a lot of money spent

warped caliper, warped disc, warped hub ?

Could be the bushes? Jack the car up and spin each wheel, if it whines
as it spins then that's how you know which bearings faulty have to say that £130 seems alot for just a bearing changed? Cost me £30 for the bearing and my mate fitted
it for £20, I'm pretty sure jamsport only charge £80 aswell Inc the bearing