Two different Subaru dealership repair shops told me that i have loose rear wheel bearings on my 2003 Outback. My car does sound like a VERY loud airplane all the time now, but the noise is the only symptom i have noticed. My shop has told me that they will fix it for a discounted price, but they …

NEVER…Get it fixed…there is no upside to running this way and you are only begging for trouble… What will most likely occur first is that your rear brakes will begin to drag because your rotor will no longer be in a straight line and centered within the brake caliper…they will then drag and burn up…

While I don’t know about Subaru bearings in particular, any time a bearing is noisy it typically means it’s failing, and final failure is accompanied by one of two events: either the bearing siezes, locking it up, or the bearing overheats leading to failure of whatever it’s connected to. Neither op…

Rent a vehicle for the trip. Until this gets resolved, the bearings stand a very real chance of seizing. And you could be driving down the highway and see your own wheel passing you in the other lane. Just before you crash. Hopefully the crash won’t be too firey. Bad bearings are bearings that are…

Count me in with the crowd. Definitely fix it.

Okay, i’m convinced. Thank you all very much! Now i just wish i knew what my usually-very-good-to-me (and wouldn’t you think they’d push me to do the repair to get my money?) car guy is smoking when he tells me it’s not a problem besides being noisy. Grrr.

LOL…All good mechanics on here seem to trade notes dont we? It just goes to show the guys on here with a proper mechanical knowledge of engines and the like are going to inevitably have the same answers… Happens all the time here… I see all of us seemingly writing the same things… Great minds th…

Also your mechanics lax stance on this issue is more than disconcerting… Now he does have a point…a failing bearing can make noise for a very long time before catastrophic failure… The thing is…why do you want to risk this? Because it is an inevitability…its a matter of WHEN and not IF in this ca…

I don’t know how you can have “loose” wheel bearings without tightening the cones and have it not be a problem. Even if wheel bearing failure was not an immediate concern, I would think drivability problems (vibration) might be especially to an awd car. I agree…get them fixed.

I might just keep this one around for whenever this question comes up:

When are noisy rear wheel bearings NOT a problem?

Maintenance/Repairs

Caddyman November 15, 2011, 9:01pm 9

I recently had a rear wheel bearing fail while on a road trip in a Crown Vic. When they fail completely it disables the car…Mine failed out in the middle of nowhere on a Friday afternoon…Total tab, $1000 and four lost days…Have them replaced…

Topic		Replies	Views
2 bearings failed on subaru outback- no accidents! Maintenance/Repairs subaru	16	2449	July 11, 2016
Bad rear wheel bearings both wheels 2006 34k mi subaru outback Maintenance/Repairs	10	1426	March 20, 2009
Wheel bearing 2010 Outback; fourth passenger rear wheel bearing in a year Maintenance/Repairs	31	5538	October 20, 2014
Subaru wheel bearings Maintenance/Repairs	2	499	February 26, 2008
Bad wheel bearing Maintenance/Repairs subaru	14	2351	July 9, 2009

When are noisy rear wheel bearings NOT a problem?

Related topics