Rodney7286 Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 hi all, 99 OBW 85k. just happened to turn off the radio and heard a distinctive moan from the right rear. took my shop guy for a ride and he confirmed what i thought. wheel bearing. i just noticed it, it's not real loud. my question is...anyone have any experience with how long this thing will groan before it pukes the hub? Is it OMG the wheel's falling off, or is a couple weeks and a couple of 120 mile round trips going to kill it. also, what's the chances of the hub being bad? i hate to order one if i don't need it, and hate to have it in the shop torn down and find out the closest one is 2 days away via ups. thanx for any info you have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimokalihi Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 I have a 90 legacy and 3 of the 4 wheel bearings have gone out now. 284,000 miles I think. I've had it almost a year now and replaced all three. One of them twice. The dealer quoted me around 1400 to replace all 4 because I figured if 3 were out, the 4th was sure to follow soon. I paid 400 for the car and put probably 600 in parts, including a 94 auto tranny so it wasn't worth it to me to invest 1400 bucks to replace 4 bearings. Les Schwab quoted me 700 but I don't trust their work. Instead I got the entire hub assemblies from the junkyard for 20 bucks a piece and did it myself. Simple job but a pain in the rump roast if you don't have an air compressor with you in the junkyard(which I did not)to break the axle nut loose. I myself drove on a bad bearing for about 10 months in this car and things seem to be fine. So I doubt it's going to kill you to wait a while to replace it. I have a feeling the car has had bad bearings for at least 2 years. They were pretty loud. I'm assuming an outback in similar to a legacy but I don't know. I've never driven one. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 I have almost 300,000km but im running 3 new bearings, that went bad at 255,000KM and 1 original in the back still going strong Dealer told me, they have had cars with original bearings last up to 500,000km. But i am running 1 pre owned bearing, because a retard at a transmission shop installed used bearings, what a $%& Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 i have 202,000 miles on the original rears, and thinking of replacing them before they demand replacing. 99's seem to have rear bearing issues, though i thought it was mostly foresters. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hohieu Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 The right rear wheel bearing on my 99 Forester has made noise for the past 3 years/40K miles. When it started, the noise was barely audible. I have 116K on the odm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unibrook Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 2001 Forester with 84k on it. I have owned it 2 yrs, I only put 5k on it per year. Wheel bearing in the rear was audible right from when I bot it. Gradually getting louder. I expect I can put another year or two on it as is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robm Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 When it gets to the point where it is either a new bearing or a louder stereo- change the bearing. I have never had one get to the point where the "average" shop would have noticed a problem, as the usual means of diagnosing a bad bearing is to shake the wheel, and replace if it is sloppy. I would be scared to run a car under those conditions, but it seems to happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 I'm going to change mine when i have the springs and struts done (still waiting on somone to send me a huge check). I am noticing though that when the road surface goes from blacktop to cement i have to trun the stereo up. Thats getting annoying. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danz75 Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 both rear bearings on my 03 outback wagon went out at 24k mi. THe noise became really loud and since it was still under warranty at that time, i had both replaced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerFahrer Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 I have done approximately a collective 60k miles of driving on bad wheel bearings. Drove my Legacy for a good 50k with a bad right rear (was bad when I bought the car), it had a bad left front for about 10k of that also. And since I've replaced all 4 bearings, the same two are making noise again, and I've driven for about 5k on those. Drove my grandpa's 93 wagon with two bad fronts for about 5k miles also. The moral of the bearing issue with my own car is this: Drive long enough on bad bearings, and you'll warp the hub, and any new bearing you put in that hub will be destroyed in short order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmithmmx Posted January 19, 2007 Share Posted January 19, 2007 I drove 15,000 miles with a bad wheel bearing, it was not pretty. I warped the hub and bent the drive axle. Cost a G to fix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodney7286 Posted January 20, 2007 Author Share Posted January 20, 2007 thanx all for the info... just made a 120 mile round trip and it seems a bit louder, so i guess it's time to order the parts, i'm hoping i don't get it to the shop and torn down and find out i need a hub. i'm in the boonies and i don't think anyone local stocks one. oh well...just hope for the best. thank you all again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimokalihi Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 3 years/40K miles This goes to show I'm not as crazy as I thought I was. There are others far deeper in the rabbit hole than I am. I have never had one get to the point where the "average" shop would have noticed a problem, as the usual means of diagnosing a bad bearing is to shake the wheel, and replace if it is sloppy. I would be scared to run a car under those conditions, but it seems to happen. That's what started happening to my car. It was the slightest bit wobbly which caused a tiny amount of shudder. I was not aware of the conesequences of letting the bearing go on in such a state. Therefore, I wasn't sure if it was dangerous or not but the shutter part of it scared me enough to finally fix the problem. Actually tonight I was much more afraid. I was driving home from work at about 6AM and my legacy started drifting sideways as if it were on ice. But I KNEW it wasn't cold enough for ice and there wasn't any water on the road. It was kind of wet but not standing water that's for sure! I called the local temp number and it was 38 so ice was factored out. It couldn't have been hydroplaning because that will have a distint feel. You loose control similar to ice but then when you get out of the water it jerks whichever way your wheels are pointed and it's a definate feeling when you stop hydroplaning but this was like you could hardly tell when it was doing it and when it wasn't. Then I thought maybe I was imagining things. But it happened again and again and again on the way home. One one corner I didn't think I was going to make the corner. By the time I got home I had decided it was a flat tire. But when I got out and checked, they're all good... The steering seems tight. I don't know what's going on. Pretty much scared to drive the thing again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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