Q: Wheel bearing

Wheel bearings can be difficult to locate which of the four is making the noise. I’ve spent to much time crawling around a car while another technicians drives attempting to figure out which bearing is making the noise. You can put all four wheels in the air and not be able to tell if any are bad. When a bearing is clearly noisy, but it just began, it often takes the load of the car to make it loud. So often times you will not be able to feel the bad bearing in the process of replacing it. This often results in the replacing of the wrong bearing. For this reason, many shops will require you to replace both the front or rear bearing to be sure.

On my own cars, I wait until the location of the failing bearing is obvious. This isn’t dangerous. A bearing will need to be falling off the car to freeze up and I have never worked on a car with a frozen wheel bearing. Of course, if your working on your rear end, it’s best to just replace both wheel bearings. When it comes to your front end, it is advisable to be sure which one it is. This can be difficult with a bearing just beginning to fail, not to mention if it is a four wheel drive, the replacement is more difficult.

If you want to be sure, replace them both or wait until the noisy bearing is obvious. Should you need any help with the wheel bearing replacement, feel free to contact one of our certified mobile technicians.

Good luck!