Front wheel bearing questions

[atomicDog]

My '95 525iT has about 150,000 miles on it and I'm getting a roar out of the front left wheel. Could be the tire, so I'm going to check that further, too.

What's the typical symptoms of the front wheel bearing(s) going bad? Also, what size socket is needed to remove/install the center nut?

[MBXB]

I think it's a 1 13/16 3/4 drive socket.
I also bought a 1/2 to 3/4 adapter so it would work with my 1/2 drive torque wrench and breaker bar.
Used a 6 foot length of pipe around the breaker bar to undo the 210 ft lb nut.
Add a heat gun to heat any races that get stuck in there and a 3 arm reversible puller made the job quite easy. Make sure your torque wrench can exceed 210 ft lbs.
Of course, dont forget to unstake the nut before you try to loosen or you'll bend the breaker bar.

[charlie]

My '95 525iT has about 150,000 miles on it and I'm getting a roar out of the front left wheel. Could be the tire, so I'm going to check that further, too.

What's the typical symptoms of the front wheel bearing(s) going bad? Also, what size socket is needed to remove/install the center nut?

48mm for sure.

[atomicDog]

Thanks for the replies so far.

Can anyone describe what symptoms a bad front wheel bearing tends to exhibit and at about how many miles they typically go bad?

[charlie]

Thanks for the replies so far.

Can anyone describe what symptoms a bad front wheel bearing tends to exhibit and at about how many miles they typically go bad?

noise especially when the wight of the car shifts to the suspected side...

[uscharalph]

noise especially when the wight of the car shifts to the suspected side...
I get noise when I make a long hard left. Which side might be suspect?

[Craig in Davis]

the right front wheel bearing. On an E28 I had it was exactly the opposite of expected, the car groaned on right hand turns and it was the right front wheel bearing. I guess it was an anomoly.



I get noise when I make a long hard left. Which side might be suspect?

[uscharalph]

the right front wheel bearing. On an E28 I had it was exactly the opposite of expected, the car groaned on right hand turns and it was the right front wheel bearing. I guess it was an anomoly.
If your car groaned on right turns and your right front wheel bearing was bad then mine should be the left fron since mine groans on left turns.

[Badkrma]

I just had mine done. 165,000 mile on the car. Started to get a lot of road noise, the kind of sound that you would hear from a pickup with mud tires on. as you pick up speed the noise got worse, to the point of not being able to stand it, but on mine when I would put a little pressure ont he bearings, turning the steering wheel a little, the noise would go away. I didn't have time for the DIY so I farmed it out to Les Schwab. They let me supply the parts (BMA) and they charged I think $65, I would have to go to the file and look.

I ended up changing both sides out. The way I looked at it, was if these things made it 165K, if I change them both now I will not have to do it again in my lifetime.

Stephen

[atomicDog]

I just had mine done. 165,000 mile on the car. Started to get a lot of road noise, the kind of sound that you would hear from a pickup with mud tires on. as you pick up speed the noise got worse, to the point of not being able to stand it, but on mine when I would put a little pressure ont he bearings, turning the steering wheel a little, the noise would go away. I didn't have time for the DIY so I farmed it out to Les Schwab. They let me supply the parts (BMA) and they charged I think $65, I would have to go to the file and look.

I ended up changing both sides out. The way I looked at it, was if these things made it 165K, if I change them both now I will not have to do it again in my lifetime.

Stephen
Thanks for all of the responses. I've just purchased both hub bearing assemblies and plan to just go ahead and replace them. The car has a little over 150,000 miles on it and I'd rather do them now while I can do it myself and not have to do it in an emergency. The experiences I'm having with my bearings are very similar to Stephen's.

[peks]

i think craigs was an anomoly like he said. it should be the wheel bearing the most load that acts up if its bad. so.. groan on left turn only means the right (outside of turn) bearing is bad and vice versa.


If your car groaned on right turns and your right front wheel bearing was bad then mine should be the left fron since mine groans on left turns.

[632 Regal]

Master Lowell says to raise the tire off the ground and to grab the spring while spinning the tire and feeling for vibration to see if they are bad.

[uscharalph]

Master Lowell says to raise the tire off the ground and to grab the spring while spinning the tire and feeling for vibration to see if they are bad.
Had a mechanic check the bearings and shocks today. They're OK. He says the idler arm bushing needs replacing. Would this cause the same groaning?

[632 Regal]

HA HA HA....nope!


Had a mechanic check the bearings and shocks today. They're OK. He says the idler arm bushing needs replacing. Would this cause the same groaning?

[Craig in Davis]

you better have another mechanic look at it. Dollars to donuts it is a wheel bearing. They don't need to have play to be bad. I hadn't heard about holding the spring while turning the wheel trick but it sounds good, vibrations caused by the bad bearing transmitted to the spring. I pulled my left front bearing yesterday. Two balls in the inner race had 4-6 mm by 1-2 mm areas that were eroded away and the balls was blue.The others looked ok. With the wheel in the air there wasn't any play. Spinning the tires didn't help. It wasn't until I had the rotor off and spun the hub assembly by itself that I was able to tell the bearing was bad. Once the hub assembly was removed I spun the bearing by hand and it was really obvious it was bad, very notchy.

As already pointed out, no the idler arm won't cause groaning. It can cause/contribute to a shimmy depending how bad it is.




Had a mechanic check the bearings and shocks today. They're OK. He says the idler arm bushing needs replacing. Would this cause the same groaning?