Honda Fit Rear Wheel Bearing

I had a rear wheel bearing go bad at 70K. It happened immediately after I had the tires rotated. A dealer mechanic is telling me that the tire place over torqued the lug nuts thus compressing the bearing. Personally, I havent heard anything that goofy in my life (I ain’t a kid either). Apparently,according to the mechanic, the Fit has a ‘special’ design on the rear hubs. I think it’s just another shoddy part and Honda is trying to move the blame to someone else. Have any of you ever heard of this?

The two front wheel bearings on my 2000 Blazer went bad at 56k after I had the tires replaced at Firestone. Coincidence, maybe, maybe not. The truck was out of warranty so I replaced the bearings and got on with my life. The truck has 112k and is doing fine.

No car is perfect, parts sometimes wear out or fail prematurely. The odds are better with a Honda, but these things still happen.

Ed B.

Overtorquing is very common. It can destroy bearings and warp brake rotors. This has been going on since the advent of the air-wrench. The other problem is that a lot of people who wield these air-wrenches do not follow the proper torque pattern. They just tighten one and go to the next one which is not the way to go. Torque wrenches are they way to go but are rarely used at tire dealers.