Bad wheel bearing - 18k miles

Thank goodness for warranties? Was experiencing some weird grinding noises when braking, couldn't figure it out for the life of me - pads had plenty of life, no marks on the rotors, etc. Finally took it in - bad wheel bearing. Wasn't hearing any whining that I'd usually associate with that, but... *shrug* Getting fixed at least!

Was that the only symptom of the bearing, was the grinding? Any vibrations that you noticed?

No, that's why it seemed like the brakes - car drove smoothly, only noticeable problem was low speed braking - right at that point when the car was about to stop. And if I let off the brakes, it stopped grinding.

sk8erord said:

No, that's why it seemed like the brakes - car drove smoothly, only noticeable problem was low speed braking - right at that point when the car was about to stop. And if I let off the brakes, it stopped grinding.

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This is exactly what my car is doing. It's going in tomorrow to get checked out.

Are you running wheel spacers?

gzstang said:

Are you running wheel spacers?

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Nope. I have springs, but that's about it in that area.

How long did they need to keep your car to replace it?

I had a bad wheel bearing at 3,000 miles. Took the dealer 3 days to figure it out. You would hear a weird squeaking noise while turning.

Just curious - which wheel bearing and what side?

Front left and the part is on order. Should be in Monday or Tuesday. I hadn't noticed before but there is a grinding when turning at low speed. Driving the car while they're getting the part. Couldn't stand the idea of staying in the rental Altima over the weekend. What a terrible car.

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sk8erord said:

Front left and the part is on order. Should be in Monday or Tuesday. I hadn't noticed before but there is a grinding when turning at low speed. Driving the car while they're getting the part. Couldn't stand the idea of staying in the rental Altima over the weekend. What a terrible car.

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Keep me in the loop on how the repair goes, sk8erord!

Meagan

Correction, it was the front RIGHT they replaced. The issue is definitely better, but not gone. Still getting a little grinding on braking and some noise when turning at low speeds. I'll have to take it back in this week. :(

I just got one of mine replaced, the bad wheel bearing made my ABS light come on.

Just noticed a loose front wheel bearing on the driver's side. I have been in there several times over the past year with brakes, suspension, tires and such. I make it a habit to always grab the hub and give it a spin. In putting on some camber plates this past week I grabbed the hub and it was sloppy. I opened the bearing cover and the nut spun fairly easy like the old school bearings you would preload with the nut and then lock it in with a keeper. In gently tightening the nut (prior to reading the manual) I did not notice any appreciable difference. Upon checking the manual I discovered that this is not like the old school opposed thrust bearings with a nut keeper. THERE IS NO NUT KEEPER! Very surprising. The manual says to torque it to 251 lbft. Very surprising that this would loosen like this. Passenger side was fine.

I'll be checking this frequently from now on. This would be the fast way to kill a bearing.

Hope this helps somebody.

Yeah... there's just too many of these to believe that there is not some kind of issue with the torquing of the axle nut at the factory. Certainly dealers aren't checking this before selling.