Wheel Bearing

[revoltersDS]

My 95 GA SE has been doing a lot of shaking around 50 mph
so i took it to a mechanic
the shaking was coming from the front right tire.
he told me it was the wheel bearing
he said it would be around $250 to $300
is that too much to pay or what?

[BBT]

Might be a bit much, but with labour and taxes (if any) could be close to that. At least here in Canada anyway. Seems high for American.

[antoniobanderas]

i did the jop myself ,not hard at all,but you will need a special bolt bit around 9 dlls and a few tools and sokets it cost me 75 dlls for the part in my 1993 grand am and it took me half hour to do

[Gimli]

Try to get your wheels balanced first. Usually bearings will make one hell of a lot of noise before wheels start shaking.

[revoltersDS]

Can anyone give me step by step instructions on changing the front right wheel bearings.

I just got my wheels balanced and i was supposed to get them aligned but they couldn't do it because i need to replace my sway bars which i already did, then i brought it to a mechanic and he said it was the wheel bearing.

[BBT]

Originally posted by Gimli
Try to get your wheels balanced first. Usually bearings will make one hell of a lot of noise before wheels start shaking.

Yeah.......makes sense.......I have never had shaking with bearings, just uncodly noise. I didn't think of that.

[Brandon]

*had a 96 olds 98 regency where one had to be replaced, was under warrenty (had 35 miles left on it 8-) but they would of charged 450ish for it had it not been*

other then that it made ahorrid noise.. the car shook alot, but the wheels werent ballanced or aligned (this was right before i got my GA GT so I really didn't care.

[voyager]

i replaced one of my wheel bearings last week - cost me about $70 for the part, $4 for the correct torx bit to remove the brake caliper with, and about an hour of time. my wheel bearing is a one-piece unit, not the kind where you can just repack the bearings with grease. if yours is not, you may just want to repack them. heck of alot cheaper.

i had alot of noise, especially when turning. shaking could be a bad steering/suspension component, or bad tires. might want a 2nd opinion...

.. but if you want to replace the bearing it's not hard. you should get at least a hayne's manual if you want to do work on your car. get one first, got pictures and step-by steps.

proceed as if you are changing the brake pads - loosen lug nuts, jack up car, remove wheel, remove caliper ( need a torx bit ), hang caliper on some piece of suspension - don't let it hang by the brake line! - then loosen whateve nuts hold on your wheel bearing and slide it off the axle.

"install is reverse of removal," as it is said.

can't give you more detailed instructions as i don't own a GA.. but it's definately something you can do yourself if you have a few tools, and buying the right tools if you don't have them, you should still be able to do it for around $100 or less. $250 american is a rip-off for that job. not brain surgery. maybe $150.. that shop must be charging $200 an hour for labour because it really doesn't take that long.

[BBT]

It's definitely a one piece crap kind of thing. I dunno why they went to these 'sealed for life' one piece bearing things. Oh yeah! Of course I do. They're CHEAPER and they wear out more often and so there is even more money to be made. They are in no way a better device.

My old cars with re-packable bearings NEVER had a bearing go. They were always checked and re-packed during each and every brake job.

[tom_704]

I had just replaced my wheel bearing is costed me $329.99. The price was not bad compare to what other places would charge you. Just make sure when you do a wheel bearing job yourself that you tighten the thing really tight and that you use the new nut and washer that is provided with it. I would say only use AC delco bearings. They will cost you about $40 more from the one's that you would get at NAPA or Autozone but trust me they are totaly worth the money. At napa you would pay $119.99 to $129.99 for one AC delco one is for like $179.99 or less.