Growly wheel bearings...

[trickyrix]

I think my front wheel bearings are just starting to go. When I went to Austin a couple weeks ago, I noticed a light growl/hum through the steering wheel at high speed (above 75-80) under any kind of side load - felt like front wheel bearings to me.

I ran across icepenguin's thread, and holy CRAP those bastards are high!


Anyone got any good spares? Barring that, surely I can do better than $117 EACH from VatoZone... maybe? Also, should I be worried for the rear bearings too, or do those last longer?

Anyhow, my car's coming up on 104K miles and I'm making a big list of stuff that needs to be done before I take another big trip in it this summer. I really don't want to get stranded in the desert in the middle of the summer.

[MiataMike]

Hmmm, maybe your bearings went out because the previous owner didn't drive it enough. Mine has 140K on my 2000 SE.

[Machismo]

Rears should last longer. But there may be instances where they don't. Just gave IcePenquinn mine spare rears. Unfortunately for the fronts, they come as a hub assembly. But don't put this off, as bearings can have catastrophic results when they finally give up the ghost. Might try a donor car if you can find one, to save a little cash. But new will definately solve problem for years to come.

[MadMerv]

Bite the bullet and order a couple of front hubs........

[Supermiataman]

Buy them from a junkyard...save u lots of cash. Also check Napa, I know we ordered a bunch of wheel hubs from them, but they may/may not have one for a miata. or FM's salvage yard...

Oh and it is pretty interesting fixing everything that gets trashed when a bearing actually fails. So avoid letting that happen.

[trickyrix]

Rears should last longer. But there may be instances where they don't. Just gave IcePenquinn mine spare rears. Unfortunately for the fronts, they come as a hub assembly. But don't put this off, as bearings can have catastrophic results when they finally give up the ghost. Might try a donor car if you can find one, to save a little cash. But new will definately solve problem for years to come.

Yeah... I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and pony up for a pair of new ones. I'm headed out on a big road trip in about a month and I don't care to have one seize up on me out in the friggin desert!

I'm not going to put it off... years ago, a friend of the family had one seize on him while he was on a big trip with his family. It was pretty ugly, but he was able to coax his van over to the shoulder after one of the front wheels locked up at 75 mph. So, yeah... I figure it'll be worth the money in the long run - and it doesn't look like any big feat to replace 'em, so I can do it myself.

Thanks for the feedback, guys!