Wheel Bearings

[blakedanatural]

Hello All,
My 2015 Mustang gt premium has 131k miles on it and I am asking should I change the wheel bearings? Front and the Rear! If any agrees with this preventive maintenance please give input. Do I have to replace with Ford OE bearings or can I do a carparts.com etc for replacement? Thank you in advance
Blake

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[kz]

It's the question you should answer yourself - if they're bad - which is somewhat easy to detect yourself, than replace them. Otherwise, no need to. I'd just use regular OEM bearing when replacing - ideally just buy a new hub.

 

[BluePonyGT]

My experience so far: stock suspension and wheel setup - Probably no issues up to those many miles. Any lowering, wheel changes, etc check them often.

if they aren’t making noise and don’t have play in them leave them alone. The are sealed bearings and can’t really be serviced. To find that out you’ll have to examine them with the car on jack stands or a lift.

lift the car with wheels off the ground. You’ll need to put the car in neutral with the e-brake off so do not forget to re-engage the e-brake before you let the car back down.

Each wheel:

• Spin it, listen for crunchy or noisy bearings.
• Grab the wheel in the top and bottom and push/pull to see if there is any play.
• Do the same with the sides of the wheel.
• Push the wheel in/out and look for play.

If you see any issues with this test you’ll have to replace the bearings not only with the wheel that has issues but the opposite one as well. They should be replaced as a set.

The fronts are easy if I remember correctly, but the rears are a pain. You have to pull the spindle knuckle the hub assemblies are bolted to, which means pulling the vertical link, tow link, control arm, etc. The axles also use “torque to yield” axle nut so you must buy a set of those along with new rear bearing assemblies. There is also a torque procedure for installing the nut that you have to follow.

I’ve done this twice in the rears but only one in the fronts on my 2017. I had to replace the rear bearings first time because they wore out after I lowered the car. The second time was when I upgraded to gt350 brakes and half shafts and went with tougher ones from ford performance. They have lasted longer for sure. Either way if you find an issue with your rear bearings it can be a big job and expensive too so consider that ahead of time.

 

[blakedanatural]

My experience so far: stock suspension and wheel setup - Probably no issues up to those many miles. Any lowering, wheel changes, etc check them often.

if they aren’t making noise and don’t have play in them leave them alone. The are sealed bearings and can’t really be serviced. To find that out you’ll have to examine them with the car on jack stands or a lift.

lift the car with wheels off the ground. You’ll need to put the car in neutral with the e-brake off so do not forget to re-engage the e-brake before you let the car back down.

Each wheel:

• Spin it, listen for crunchy or noisy bearings.
• Grab the wheel in the top and bottom and push/pull to see if there is any play.
• Do the same with the sides of the wheel.
• Push the wheel in/out and look for play.

If you see any issues with this test you’ll have to replace the bearings not only with the wheel that has issues but the opposite one as well. They should be replaced as a set.

The fronts are easy if I remember correctly, but the rears are a pain. You have to pull the steering nuckle, and it also use “torque to yield” axle nut so you must buy a set of those along with new rear bearing assemblies. There is also a torque procedure for installing the nut that you have to follow.

I’ve done this twice in the rears but only one in the fronts on my 2017. I had to replace the rear bearings first time because they wore out after I lowered the car. The second time was when I upgraded to gt350 brakes and half shafts and went with tougher ones from ford performance. They have lasted longer for sure. Either way if you find an issue with your rear bearings it can be a big job and expensive too so consider that ahead of time.

Thank you very much. I will test this weekend for any noise. My car has not been lowered but i do I do have bmr front and rear sway bars. I havent heard any noise driving but I was just curious. I replaced all the front factory and rear suspensions parts tho. I do have to replace my rack and pinion because of the steering wheel play. I thought it was the steering staft but looking under the car and moving the staff with my hand I could hear the sound from the rack. With 131k miles I refused to buy a brand new rack from ford. I got a used one from a wreck with 58k miles on it. It is a 2015 too. To your knowledge I can just replace with a alignment? Not code errors will be a issue if its the same rack? Thank for listening

 

[BluePonyGT]

Not sure since I haven’t had to replace mine, but it is electrical steering. Shouldn’t need anything special but since it is an electrical subsystem removing the - battery terminal would be a good idea. In the past when I’ve had to replace a steering rack: move the steering to center as best you can, do the same with the unit you’ve got as a replacement, then adjust the new one to the old one with a measuring tape as best as you can. This can help you avoid an alignment if you’re careful. However if your steering g has been messed up then an alignment afterwards may be what you need.

 

[blakedanatural]

Not sure since I haven’t had to replace mine, but it is electrical steering. Shouldn’t need anything special but since it is an electrical subsystem removing the - battery terminal would be a good idea. In the past when I’ve had to replace a steering rack: move the steering to center as best you can, do the same with the unit you’ve got as a replacement, then adjust the new one to the old one with a measuring tape as best as you can. This can help you avoid an alignment if you’re careful. However if your steering g has been messed up then an alignment afterwards may be what you need.

Good morning and I appreciate you . Will let you know how I made out . The weather stinks today in West Chester,Pa so I will wait till next weekend.

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