decker

So i had a lug nut bust off and nearly lost a wheel at the dragon last week. I took her into service and they said that they had to replace the wheel bearings because thats what you do if you have to remove the hub.

?
is this true or did i get screwed?

Slows2k

It's true. The bearing is pressed together, and when the hub is removed the bearing comes apart.

Jasonoff

This is what I thought as well.

A friend of mine had a lug replaced under warranty and they reused the bearings

decker

so if you have to replace a stud, you have to buy new bearings? Isn't that poor design?

Also i have the "old" bearings in my car (just incase they didn't replace anything). It looks like they cut into the center part to remove them. Is this also right?

JDMwhore

You're suppose to have them replaced. However when I had my hub's taken apart I had them just reuse my old bearings and its been fine for 12k+ miles. At the time I had no time to order new.

Slows2k

I wouldn't call it poor design, they are sealed bearings that don't need to be packed with grease every 15K.

If you didn't have to eplace the broken stud, the bearings last well over 100K on a street driven car.

The inner bearing race sticks on the hub, as it's a press fit. You can cut them off the hub to remove the race. The shop can't take the liability of replacing the stud, and re-using the bearing. If the bearing becomes noisy later, they have to do the same work 2x.

hondamanwill

It all depends how they come apart. I have reused them and had times where they couldn't be reused. But I do agree will SLOW shops can't afford to work for free.

mbilderback

I don't think he's saying it's a bad bearing design, just a bad design for replacing studs. I know that when most cars had to get studs, they usually had a certain place where you aligned the stud and could knock it out of the hub by only taking off the wheel and rotor. (The rotor wasn't required but recommended.) Then you just put the new stud in and pulled it through with an impact gun. That'd set it in place. You could then back off the nut and hand-tighten if you were so inclined. $1.00 for the stud and 20 minutes to get the thing in. Not $1 for the stud, $50 (or however much) for a new bearing, a couple of hours worth of labor for removing and reinstalling the knuckle as well as the cost of actually pressing the bearing parts off the hub and knuckle and then pressing the new one back on.

decker

Thats correct, i'm saying replacing a broken stud costs $450+-. Anyway, turns out the dealer is going to pay this cost cause the dealer which sold me the car used a rear rim up front (ie it had a 4mm gap because its designed not to fit). Anyway, they are paying all the damages and the $300 tow from north georgia.

Bottom line, take care of your studs and nuts :-P