Lemon Laws apply to new cars. This was bought used. As this doesn’t seem to be a design flaw it has to be something else bent or improper installation. Given that it takes some time to develop I suspect the former. If they damaged the bearings during installation I’d expect the problem to show up quickly or immediately. Good luck getting this resolved. If the dealer doesn’t propose doing anything beyond replacing the bearing assembly again you might want to escalate this to Subaru. You can be nice about it. Suggest that Subaru may have seen the problem before and have a simple repair. Even raising the subject might get the dealership to try harder to find the problem.
Maybe you should get a new bearing and let the neighbor with the lift do the work. He couldn’t do any worse.
After replacing the third wheel bearing the dealer checked the axle.
They may not have the proper equipment to check the axle. Just looking at it and saying it’s straight is not enough.
It could be that the previous owner doesn’t even remember that time when he slid on that icy road into the curb…it seemed so minor.
Yosemite
Maybe have another dealer fix it? Different dealer, different mechanic? Dealer #1 can pay #2 since its warranty issue. But than you have 2 dealers fighting each other when it fails again.
The dealer installed a new bearing under warranty; found no problems with any of the assembly that would cause the bearing to fail; made sure it was installed according to proper assembly procedures and and torque specifications. The car is now quiet and smooth again. If it fails again I will revisit the discussion here. Thank you to everyone for their thoughts, ideas and investigation of this problem.
It might not be germain but I am wondering if staking the axle nut could cause false brinelling of the races.
If I had this problem on my Corolla I’d ask the shop to install a new hub that had a new wheel bearing pre-installed at the factory. In other words use a new hub/bearing ass’y, not just a new wheel bearing into the existing hub. Sometimes the hub can get damaged by a bad wheel bearing, and installing just a new bearing won’t fix the problem.
It’s also possible there’s nothing wrong with the bearing in the first place. What makes you think OP that there’s a problem w/the bearing? Some kind of noise? That can be due to tire and suspension problems.
What I don’t get is how they’re continuing to warranty the same part, no matter the reason for any failure, if they’re using genuine Subaru parts and filing parts warranty claims.
The bearing is preinstalled in a hub assembly; Rockauto has a good picture of it. The noise and vibration stop when a new hub assembly is installed. After a few months and a few thousand miles the noise and vibration start again; and when you jack the car up and jiggle the wheel top to bottom there is play; slop; wiggling; that exists on that wheel only. Replacing the unit stops the vibration, noise, and wiggling. This problem has many subaru mechanics and alignment shops puzzled; but everyone agrees if there were a problem with the alignment-and it was that far off that it prematurely causes the bearing to fail- the tire would be worn very quickly and show telltale signs.
Has anyone done a 4 wheel alignment on this car. Sounds as if the tire is not rolling straight and the side load is wearing out the bearing.
It would be interesting to check the difference in temperature that the two rear bearings are working at after a normal drive. It seems the troubled side would have to be at a lot higher temperature than normal side. I assume the bearings are sealed and don’t require lubrication being inside the axle tube.
I might ask again; are the bearings being used genuine Subaru bearings or are they aftermarket from the local AutoZone or what have you?
I might also ask if you have been given copies of the repair order each time this was done?
After re-reading all the posts, I agree with those that think you have a bent axle. I know the dealer said it is straight , but , they also have not found the cause of the problem in 3 tries.