edsmax

When I brought my car on the highway yesterday, there was a loud metal on metal grinding or howl coming from the right rear wheel. I assume it was a bad wheel bearing. I brought it to a local reputable shop. Their in house Porsche expert claims bearing was ok (no play). I asked where the noise was coming from, they indicated some bearing noise and some noise from a choppy tire. They claimed rear wheel bearing replacement was around $650. They further claimed I am "lucky" hub is still ok as that is a $950 part by itself.

Does $650 seem right for this repair? I see what I believe is the correct part online going for $50. Am I missing something?

Arominus

The rear bearing is not the easiest thing to replace. You need a big breaker bar to get that axle nut loose. Beyond that point its probably not that bad to do, iirc there are some specialty tools sold just to remove the bearing.

http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/susp-11.htm

divil

Is that one side or both? The parts cost me about $100 for each side - that includes the bearing, locking nut and CV axle bolts, which most people recommend replacing. That leaves around $450 for labor to do both sides...sounds like probably around 2.5 hours per side at typical rates. That does seem a little high to me - it would probably take me that long, but I am pretty slow. Dont' know what they're talking about with the hub tbh...yes they might be expensive but nothing usually goes wrong with them. And you can find good used ones for a lot less than that. I'd shop around a bit if you can.

edsmax

The price was for one side. I noticed when they were talking part pricing, they were getting parts from the Porsche dealer which would explain the high costs.

divil

Ask them for a breakdown of parts and labor. The price I mentioned was for SKF bearings, which are around $65 each (and you'd be just fine with SKF to be honest). The OEM Porsche bearings are $126 each from Pelican. That's a huge difference but still not enough to explain that price imo. Even if we assume all the parts are twice as expensive from a dealer, that still leaves $450 in labor for just one side.

BoulderGeek

At what point should one replace the wheel bearings?

I am planning on doing the front inner and outer conical bearings when doing my brake job in the next couple of weeks. Since the rears are sealed, i was going to let them go.

I don't know when they were last replaced.

divil

I think most people go by the noise they make. In my case, the axle nut on the driver's side came loose at a track event The bearing seemed ok once I tried tightening the nut, but I decided to replace everything anyway. Definitely check them for play by rocking the wheel from the 12/6 o'clock position (don't forget to release the handbrake first). There should be no movement at all, unlike the fronts which can have a little.

thomasmryan

heat is your friend with this job)))

skf bearings are in the 70 range plus the 6 dollar axle nut. ruville and *** bearing maybe cheaper but my personal preference is skf.

the arnworks tool is less than 100 but you may need a slide hammer to pull the hub. there are a few threads of people using hardware store items also. pulling the hub destroys the bearing. there is no real way to check play nor do the modular ball bearings rumble like a worn taper style bearing. the sound is slightly different.

if one is bad replace both....

cv boots are 6 bucks for OE if you want.

there was invoice if the paper work on my car for one bearing and a cv packing for 950.

I thought about how many more parts I could buy by all the money I saved by doing the job myself.

if you let it get too janky, it could spin the bearing in the control arm and then the arm would need to be replaced.

crooster

I used the Arnnworx rear bearing tool to remove and insert the bearing which made it pretty easy. Freezing the bearing and heating the hub helps as well.

mikey_audiogeek

Fixed it for you...

(I agree that the SKF bearings are fine)

One of mine started making a very very slight noise about 8 months before I replaced it. Took a while to pinpoint the noise, noise got worse and worse until it was obviously a bearing. At this point, you want to do it pretty soon...

I bought the Arnworx tool, a cheap slide hammer set, and a cheap 3/4 socket set.
Clark's Garage instructions and Arnworx instructions. Yes, heat helps! Yes, do both!

To torque the nut: put a cheater pipe over the 3/4 breaker bar. Weigh yourself.
Torque = weight x distance, so you now know where to stand on the bar... Just as accurate as a torque wrench.

A good weekend job!

Cheers,
Mike

divil

+1 for the Arnnworx tool. That's pretty much exactly what I did. For anyone in the US, you can generally get a slide hammer from places like Autozone for free. You need a hub attachment which is usually separate but also available to rent for free. You'll also need something to get the bearing race off the hub - I used a bearing separator from HF. But you can probably knock it off with a punch and a little heat.

A few more tips...to break the nut loose (particularly the right/passenger side which tends to tighten itself over time), you can use a 3/4" breaker bar, some wheel chocks and a jack - just jack up the end of the bar until it breaks loose. Don't bother with 1/2" tools for this part, you will just break something.

Because the nut backed off in my case, I made some marks on the new ones, and the washers, and the hub behind that after I torqued them down. Now any time I take the wheel off I can see immediately if there's been any movement.

thomasmryan

I bought the axle nuts but it was the passenger side that loosened up after a 1000 miles.....I checked them every fill up.

I double nutted it with the old ones as back up....which might be a stupid move but I will watch them

crooster

I use Liquid Paper to mark the position of the nut on the hub on my track car. I don't use centre caps so I can check if they have moved with a glance. Part of my track day pre check.

wildcat077

I second the Arnnworx tool,it's a piece of cake with it !

Cheers
Phil

thomasmryan

Check your other stuff first. Parking brake spring might have popped off with a shoe dragging or a pad sensor scrubbing.

Shop dude might be straight up.

Edit...taper bearings will have a pretty consistent rumble depending on how it is loaded but ball bearings will have some cadence to them at lesser speeds as the ***** chase each other. If that makes sense.