Wheel Bearing Replacement :(

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MagpieMatt

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I need to replace my wheel bearing, i started to get a bit of a drone coming from the front drivers side wheel over 40mph, i was certain it was the bearing but i just wanted someone took double check before i started ordering parts/tools . I had 3 garages quotes, lowest was £260 fitted lol, surely thats a bit high?!

How much is a good price fitted?

Anyone recommend any brand or websites to get one from?

Difficult to do yourself? Im a engineer but never done this before lol

Thanks
Matt
 
A new bearing is between £55 - £115 depending on where you buy from and what brand. So they are charging you 2.5 hours labour at £75 ph if they charge you £80 for parts. That is for just the bearing assembly, the hub will need to be pressed out of the old one and into the new one.

For you to do it you either need to buy a press or pay a garage £20-odd to press the hub out & in. Depending on the age of the car (2008 cars are 9 years old now) the bearing assembly could be seized into the knuckle, requiring lots of swearing for many hours with hand tools or a few quick minutes with air tools in a garage.

You will also need to buy tripple square bits to undo the 4 bolts that hold it in and a torque wrench for the hub bolt and a large allen bit socket for the hub bolt, and a breaker bar to undo the hub bolt and a jack & axle stands, etc, etc.

This is on the assumption you have zero tools and equipment already, to you may not need half of that stuff if you already have it.

However my point is, if you've never done it, it will not go easy. I would say the garage prices are fair for the work. Not a rip off but not super cheap "too good to be true" prices either. That quote is just a realistic cost.

However if you want to do it, watch some YouTube videos first to get a good idea as to what is involved and parts can be had from CarParts4Less.co.uk

CarParts4Less are the online only division of EuroCarParts, same stock, same warehouse, different logo and cheaper because they operate online only. They sell 2 versions of the bearing, one for £55, the other for £77.
 
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Done both my fronts now, 2009 avant and I would agree with All of the above, and it saved me writing all that out :sunglasses:
 
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Don't buy cheap replacements either or you will likely be doing it all again soon! I did read somewhere that the oe bearings were made by FAG but I'm not sure, I'm sure someone will know. If that's true the FAG ones are often sold by gsf car parts with 50% off normally or readily available on ebay
 
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Should be noted even the pros can screw it up. Had the rear wheel bearing done on my old A4 2.5 Quattro avant a few years ago by an Audi Indy. I insisted on FAG bearing. Within a month the same corner was creating a tell-tale drone at 40mph. To be fair they took it back and refitted a replacement bearing. When the new bearing is pressed in it can be damaged if they're not careful, using wrong press cup for example or it's pressed in at an angle.
 
Or pressed in at an angle with a hammer :tearsofjoy:
 
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I do pretty much everything on my car but took it to an Indy to get the bearing done because the bearing is a real pig to get out of the carrier. The OE bearing in mine was an SNR item . I ordered an SNR item from carparts4less as it worked out cheaper than what the indie were quoting for the part and they sent an FAG bearing instead.
http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/cp4l...ission/wheel-bearing-and-wheel-hub/?628441400
 
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I might just give it a bash myself to be fair, i should have all the tools at work, I'm sure some of the old timers can bail me out if i get in a sticky situation lol, ill do a lot more research online and get familiar with the process first.

Thanks for the help everyone! Much appreciated!
 
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@MagpieMatt if you fancy doing it yourself give this video a watch. It gives you an idea as to what is needed, however you will have an extra step of pressing the old hub out and the new one in as the guy in the video got a bearing & hub assembly as a single unit.

 
One of the easiest wheel bearings I've done is the B8. The hub is stepped so getting it out of the old bearing takes much less time. I think from being on all 4 wheels to being back on all 4 wheels was less than an hour without a press. Done 30k since and all seems well.
Mine went whilst i was on holiday in Italy last year. An Audi garage there quoted me 500 euros lol
 
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That video make it look straight forward. The fact it's a bolt on hub is easy. I'm surprised the guy isn't wearing gloves... I glove up like a medic in ER!
 
spartacus 68 said:
I'm surprised the guy isn't wearing gloves... I glove up like a medic in ER!
Click to expand...

+1 and after I recently stabbed myself in the hand I when a screwdriver slipped off a jubilee clamp which cause blood to go everywhere I have now ordered some Kevlar lined work gloves to protect from injury as well as the general dirt.
 
Gloves :flushed: what is the world coming to, wear your scars with pride :tearsofjoy: after 11 years as an hgv fitter I don't have a single knuckle that doesn't have some sort of scar on it

Wait now that I think about it yes go with the gloves
 
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I watched the mechanic pressing the old bearing out of the hub and he was struggling with a 10 ton press and all the correct adaptors and spacers. I spoke to him and he said some just fly out whilst others are a pig. Mine was a pig.
I only recently started wearing gloves to work on the car a few years ago. I quite often wear them now and find them really good especially when working with hot stuff.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-Pairs-of-Unisex-Arco-Essentials-Light-PU-Gloves-Size-9-/142436541616?
 
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Dead easy if you spend the extra £30 on the complete assembly.

If you are going to press out/in the bearing into the carrier heat is your friend.
Put the new bearing in the freezer for an hour.
Heat up the carrier to about 160 degrees, the bearing will press out easier and the new bearing will literally drop in.
 
I just did mine the other day . It was all seized on that was the hardest part getting the hub off . Bearing that excuse the pun it was a relatively straight job
 
desertstorm said:
I watched the mechanic pressing the old bearing out of the hub and he was struggling with a 10 ton press and all the correct adaptors and spacers. I spoke to him and he said some just fly out whilst others are a pig. Mine was a pig.
I only recently started wearing gloves to work on the car a few years ago. I quite often wear them now and find them really good especially when working with hot stuff.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-Pairs-of-Unisex-Arco-Essentials-Light-PU-Gloves-Size-9-/142436541616?
Click to expand...

I bought a pack of similar gloves from Costco a year or so ago, they do make a lot of sense, my mate thinks that they are for girlies, but sometimes they even make cleaning up that bit quicker, currently have at least 4 pairs in use, a pair for gardening(hate that job), dirty oily car jobs, cleaner car jobs, car jobs involving black Hamerite etc etc, only problem is, I have not worked out when to bin a pair! Extra handy in winter in an unheated garage. I even use disposable proper barrier/surgical gloves when messing with fridge stuff (another sad story!).

Bought a box of cheap plastic gloves from my local Ford dealer many years ago, ideal I thought, well not so, when you put them on you rip off the cuff end, maybe that was why there were being sold off cheap!
 
I have tried some of the plastic / latex ones and they are good if you doing something that is quite oily but apart from that they just make your hands sweat. As you say the ones I linked to are great when it's cold outside.And I am like you too currently have about 3 pairs on the go. I just don't know when to throw them away :).
 
Just to come back to this, I'll need to do one on my 3.0tdi B8 soon...

So you can avoid the faff of pressing out the bearing by just replacing the entire bearing with housing which is on 4 bolts? Do these also seize in?
And the rear is similar?

Anyone have a link to the larger assembly with axle if that's an easier swap?
 
Yes they're held in by 4 bolts, but yes they can seize in.

Takes less than an hour to do even if seized.
 
Ok so it’s the normal process of Caliper off, disc off, undo centre bolt, drop the driveshaft out (outboard end, possibly a balljoint needs undoing for this?) then undo the 4 bolts for the wheel bearing housing, replace and then refit it all?
 
Always do bearings in pairs.
And always buy decent ones, SKF, FAG or NSK.
If one has gone, the other will not be far behind I guarantee.
 
For sheer ease and simplicity. Get one already in a carrier.
 
Thanks
So autodoc have febest or optimal brands at around £92 - but are these any good?
Surely audi is like £200?
Otherwise SKF bearing is £49 and I buy the topran hub at £24 ish separately and press in at work - probably easiest
 
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I ground mine off with a hand grinder and carefully knocked the new one on in, to be honest I’ve done loads that way without a press but I wouldn’t advise anyone doing it if you haven’t done it before as you have to be careful grinding the old bearing shells off without cutting into the hub!!
The hardest bit I found with mine though was after taking the 4 hub bolts out it was proper seized in with the white corrosion but after a tap here and there it plonked out, I cleaned the old hole up with a wire brush and sandpaper so the new one would go in easy.
Takes about an hour on the rd with nothing else seized.
 
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glenandem said:
I ground mine off with a hand grinder and carefully knocked the new one on in, to be honest I’ve done loads that way without a press but I wouldn’t advise anyone doing it if you haven’t done it before as you have to be careful grinding the old bearing shells off without cutting into the hub!!
The hardest bit I found with mine though was after taking the 4 hub bolts out it was proper seized in with the white corrosion but after a tap here and there it plonked out, I cleaned the old hole up with a wire brush and sandpaper so the new one would go in easy.
Takes about an hour on the rd with nothing else seized.
Click to expand...

My local Indy done mine, and this is exactly how they had to do it.
Was the only way apparently.
Without knocking ten bells out of the car.
They showed me the old raceway sections, ( I make hub bearings for a living), and they didn't look bad at all internally.
 
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You can easily pull off the hub from the bearing. Them i used a slide hammer screwed into the bearing carrier to pull the carrier away from the upright.
 
I would get the SKF bearings Ben and get the old ones pressed out of the existing hubs and the new ones pressed in. Don't get some cheap Chinese bearings and you don't need to bother with any aftermarket hubs either.
 
Many thanks
Two bearings delivered was £106
Does anyone have a hub they’re never going to use? Ideally I’d fit the new bearing to a used hub and have it ready for the swap!
 
Well I got the 4 bolts out that secure the bearing housing (with driveshaft in place) but it's properly seized into the upright (lots of plus gas and hammer hitting), so taking to a garage!
 
audi upgrades
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