How do I know when my wheel bearings need to be re-lubed? Is this a normal process to get done at 60,000 miles? Roughly how much would it cost for someone to check this out and lube it if need be?
How about make model and year of your car? What does the owner’s manual say about it. I suspect that there is nothing in the owner’s manual, meaning the manufacturer does not recommend lubing them and the dealer is using you for additional dealer profit. I would suggest avoiding this dealer and have all the maintenance listed in the owner’s manual done by an independent mechanic and keeping good records to prove you have done the work to support any possible warranty claim.
Well I should have been more specific but who said anything about a dealership making the suggestion? I have a 04 Subaru Outback sport and yes I have read many of the other subaru posts.
What I want to know is if what I am hearing means i need to get the bearings replaced. I am coming up on 60,000mile so they were be looking at this anyway but i want to be ahead of the dealer.
The sound I am hearing is similar to one you would hear if a truck had new, mud and snow tires on it. I have all season tires on my and I am 20,000 miles into them.
Subaru uses sealed bearings; you cannot repack them.
The bearings on my 2000 Blazer went bad after I put new tires on it. For a while I thought it was tire noise. Does the sound change when the steering wheel is off center (i.e. changing lanes)? If yes, it’s probably the bearings. I spent about $800 for front wheel bearing/hub assemblies for the Blazer.
Ed B.
Does the noise change if you’re turning left/right at >30MPH speeds?
When the front driver-side bearing started to fail on my VW @ 80K it made a noise like you’re describing, it would get worse/better depending on which way I was turning.
The rear bearings aren’t as easy to detect w/ direction changes I was told.
On the VW both front/rear are sealed units, you have to replace as an assembly. I thought it was one of the rears on my VW because the dust cap was missing, I did it myself in about 2 hours, the noise wasn’t gone so of course it wasn’t the bad one, but hey, it’s all a learning experience! It turned out to be a front bearing, but the replacement instructions seemed too complicated for me so I had a Boston area dealer replace it for $315 (per wheel).