Wheel Bearing Replacement

Hi Folks,

I had a problem with my wheel bearings, the one on the front right was faulty. One of the things I noticed was a harmonic noise when I drive over 50 mph. More like WooWooWooWoo. This means the hub is not rotating freely. The garage who I generally use put the car up on a ramp with the wheels hanging, proved it to me that the wheel bearing is making the noise by rotating the wheels on both side. The one on the right (o/s/f) was not rotating freely and was also making some noise compared to the one on the left (n/s/f).

I did do a search and put up a post for this but never managed to find decent info about the work, time and complexity involved in replacing a wheel bearing. So I decided to put this post put for a tutorial on replacing the front wheel bearings.

The replacement parts you need from the catalogue are shown highlighted in the following pic along with the part numbers. You need a set for each side of the axle. Also the garage should be equipped with a decent hydraulic press to press out the bearing and press in the new bearing. If you use a hammer or something else to press the bearing in you have a very high chance of damaging it.

1) Hole Snap Ring (Front Axle) - 90521-82001

2) Oil Seal (Front Axle) - 90311-50008

3) Nut (Locking nut) - 90179-24005

4) Grease Cap (front Axle Hub) - 43514-24010

To do this job we had to

1. Remove the wheel
   
2. Remove the brake disc
   
3. Remove the brake caliper (see that it is secured properly)
   
4. Disconnect all the control arms from the hub
   
5. Disconnect and remove the ABS sensor from the top of the hub (recommended but we did not)
   
6. Remove the studs on the wheel hub (recommended but we did not)
   
7. Remove the the wheel hub which contains the bearing.
   
8. Remove the centre grease cap
   
9. Remove the nut under the grease cap
   
10. Remove the ABS skid control rotor
    
11. Using the press remove the Hub sub assay out
    
12. Remove the oil seal
    
13. Remove the snap ring
    
14. Using the press remove the bearing out
    
15. Using the press, press the new bearing in and do the above steps in the reverse order
    

Here is the list of all the steps/instructions with images along with torque settings for the various nuts from the workshop manual.

Cheers

Here goes the coloured pics from my work

You can clearly see here how this bearing has deteriorated. Looks like some water was seeping in and corroded the bearings and the grease looks dirty too ...

Look at the difference between the n/s and o/s front bearings (the offside one was faulty)

Great write up their, very helpful for me.

mines has just started making that harmonic noise as you described it (sounds like there's a hole in the car somewhere and the wind is whistling through it in a low pitch) I was worried when mine was doin it as it started making that noise just as the boost was coming on, I thought the worst.

Did you also get a squeaky noise on the wheels between 1-15 mph?

As above, great guide. Ive gotta do my wheel studs

Nice write up! Until now I never knew fully what was involved in replacing one of these and it looks like a b@stard of a job for anyone who'd attempt this without a workshop and all the right tools!

How long did it take per side?

Great post. I'll have to remember this for future reference.

i need pictures!

Anyone know where op is to sort pics ? Going to be doing this next week to save 200 getting it done in a garage