wheel bearings

[Dominic Richens]

Have 1998 Forester. Have replaced wheel bearings 5 times and just told
right rear needs to be replaced again.

Anyone else having this type of issue?

No - I had to have all but passenger rear replace around 200,000 km but
they've been fine since.

Did you get all done by the same mechanic? If so, that is most likely your
problem.

 

[dba]

Well we will find out soon. Just had rear left replaced by another garage.

Still seems strange that wheel bearings need such frequent replacement.
Have had many cars in my day and never had to have wheel bearings
replace the first time.

 

[Dominic Richens]

Well we will find out soon. Just had rear left replaced by another garage.

Still seems strange that wheel bearings need such frequent replacement.
Have had many cars in my day and never had to have wheel bearings replace
the first time.

Agreed - Soobs are notorious for having under-engineered their wheel bears
so that they only last 100,000km to 200,000km - plus it is easy to mash them
when installing them - not the best design IMHO.

 

[dba]

100,000km to 200,000km? The car is a 1998 with 60,000. The wheel
bearings have been changed 4 times before (maybe more) and we just did
the 5th.

 

[Rick Courtright]

100,000km to 200,000km? The car is a 1998 with 60,000. The wheel
bearings have been changed 4 times before (maybe more) and we just > did the 5th.

Hi,

I've gotta agree that Subaru did NOT choose the best designs for their
wheel bearings, but, still, it sounds like there's something SERIOUSLY
wrong w/ the car, the installation procedure, or both?

One thing we discussed a couple of years back makes me wonder about the
installation. Supposedly new bearings were coming from the factory
pre-greased. One of the things we tossed about was whether they were
"pre-greased" for actual use, or was this "preservative" grease that
needed to be replaced w/ actual service lube prior to installation?

For myself, I've never trusted the "pre-greased" idea and have lubed
replacement bearings "forever." I'm gonna wonder out loud if maybe none
of the bearings installed in your car were ever properly greased? One
reason I wonder is that when one of the rear bearings was getting loose
in my Subie (250k miles or so), I didn't have time to change it out
right when I discovered the wear, so I got out the grease gun and a
needle and really gave it a good amount of grease to hold it while I
"crossed my fingers." I got over 5000 miles out of it before it finally
failed, and even when it "gave up" I was able to limp it home at low
speed for close to 50 miles.

Now that's on a known "sick" bearing, so getting only twice that mileage
from a "new" one is purely inexcusable.

Rick