Rear wheel bearings: how many decibels?

[Charles Packer]

My 2001 Forester with 117K miles has come down with an
obvious case of the rear wheel bearing blues. For the
past 15K miles the noise has been getting louder and
I wonder how far I can safely drive the car before it
becomes essential to replace them. Somebody said in
a thread here that the noise gets really loud, but I
read that posting a long time ago and I doubt if I
could find it in the many, many threads here about the
infamous bearing problem.

 

[Tim Conway]

My 2001 Forester with 117K miles has come down with an
obvious case of the rear wheel bearing blues. For the
past 15K miles the noise has been getting louder and
I wonder how far I can safely drive the car before it
becomes essential to replace them. Somebody said in
a thread here that the noise gets really loud, but I
read that posting a long time ago and I doubt if I
could find it in the many, many threads here about the
infamous bearing problem.

--

You can probably drive for several months before it gets too bad. About 5
years ago my 2000 forester had the right rear go bad, I drove it way too
long on a trip home, and wound up replacing a lot of other parts that it had
chewed into. Don't wait too long. It really does get loud, though before
it gets that bad.

 

[Cameo]

You can probably drive for several months before it gets too bad.
About 5 years ago my 2000 forester had the right rear go bad, I drove
it way too long on a trip home, and wound up replacing a lot of other
parts that it had chewed into. Don't wait too long. It really does
get loud, though before it gets that bad.

Is the rear wheel bearing a recurring issue only with AWDs and RWDs
but not with FWDs?

 

[Tim Conway]

Is the rear wheel bearing a recurring issue only with AWDs and RWDs but
not with FWDs?

I don't know, but my 2000 is making the noise again which means I'll soon be
replacing mine again - about 40k miles after the first time.

 

[Mike Bender]

My 2001 Forester with 117K miles has come down with an
obvious case of the rear wheel bearing blues. For the
past 15K miles the noise has been getting louder and
I wonder how far I can safely drive the car before it
becomes essential to replace them. Somebody said in
a thread here that the noise gets really loud, but I
read that posting a long time ago and I doubt if I
could find it in the many, many threads here about the
infamous bearing problem.

I just had to replace a rear wheel bearing on my '03 Forester last spring.
I ran it for about 10,000 miles before the noise got so loud I couldn't
stand it any more and decided to drop the coin to have it replaced. Before
I had the work done, though, I'd periodically raise the car and try to
shake the wheel. Other than the noise which got so bad the family refused
to ride in the car, I was never to able to detect the bearing failure via
any other method. If I'd have been willing to put up with the droning, I
imagine it could have gone for quite a while longer.

On a related note, the fact that the bearing failed at less than 60K miles
just added another reason to the growing list of reasons I'll never buy
another Subaru vehicle. I can't believe how many Subaru owners are willing
to accept this kind of poor engineering and/or build quality as just part
of the "Subaru experience".

- Snuffy -

 

[Cameo]

I don't know, but my 2000 is making the noise again which means I'll
soon be replacing mine again - about 40k miles after the first time.

I was asking because I never had this problem with my '94 Honda Accord
that has almost 300 K miles in it. On the other hand I did have to
replace the rear wheel bearings on my prior RWD vehicles (VW Beetle and
Toyota Corolla.)

 

[Charles Packer]

On a related note, the fact that the bearing failed at less than 60K miles
just added another reason to the growing list of reasons I'll never buy
another Subaru vehicle. I can't believe how many Subaru owners are willing
to accept this kind of poor engineering and/or build quality as just part
of the "Subaru experience".

Maybe it's the influence of Consumer Reports, which has
consistently ranked Subaru as among the most reliable
of cars. I have a theory about how _that_ came to be:
The people who repond to their surveys are well-heeled
folks who buy Subarus as extra cars and then don't
drive them much. By and by, they decide to shed the
unneeded asset, and folks like me answer their Craiglist
ads. We're the ones who find that after 60K miles all
the famous problems come up: rear wheel bearings,
front axle boots, center differential, head gasket.

 

[Dean Hoffman]

Maybe it's the influence of Consumer Reports, which has
consistently ranked Subaru as among the most reliable
of cars. I have a theory about how _that_ came to be:
The people who repond to their surveys are well-heeled
folks who buy Subarus as extra cars and then don't
drive them much. By and by, they decide to shed the
unneeded asset, and folks like me answer their Craiglist
ads. We're the ones who find that after 60K miles all
the famous problems come up: rear wheel bearings,
front axle boots, center differential, head gasket.

--

Consumer Reports adjusts their reliability ratings according to
mileage and such as I remember. I think they ask people to rate cars
seven years old or less though. It's been awhile since I bothered to
fill out one of those surveys.

 

[Dave__67]

I don't know, but my 2000 is making the noise again which means I'll soonbe
replacing mine again - about 40k miles after the first time.

There is a specific procedure to follow and an updated part. The
concentricity of the knuckle must be checked.


Dave

 

[Stewart DIBBS]

My 2001 Forester with 117K miles has come down with an
obvious case of the rear wheel bearing blues. For the
past 15K miles the noise has been getting louder and
I wonder how far I can safely drive the car before it
becomes essential to replace them.

If you've been hearing the bearing grumbling for 15K miles, it's time to
replace the bearing. Once the bearing is audible it's advisable to replace
it sooner rather than later. I did the rear on mine recently about 5K km
after the noise was noticeable. There's the bearing and 3 seals. The outer
two protect the bearing, and the inner one protects the CV axle stub. If
this has ingested dirt and water the sealing surface on the axle stub can be
corroded, and you'll ideally need a replacement axle as well.

If you are planning on doing this yourself, you will need an appropriate
bearing extractor/replacer tool, otherwise the whole knuckle has to be
removed so the bearing can be pressed out and the new one pressed in. The
two lower control arms are connected to the knuckle with one long 14mm (?)
bolt. These bolts often rust solid in the knuckle, and require some
persuasion to remove. One way is to heat the knuckle with an oxy torch. This
bolt has to be removed so the axle can pulled out of the hub.

Otherwise, have the dealer do it.

SD

 

[1 Lucky Texan]

If you've been hearing the bearing grumbling for 15K miles, it's time to
replace the bearing. Once the bearing is audible it's advisable to replace
it sooner rather than later. I did the rear on mine recently about 5K km
after the noise was noticeable. There's the bearing and 3 seals. The outer
two protect the bearing, and the inner one protects the CV axle stub. If
this has ingested dirt and water the sealing surface on the axle stub canbe
corroded, and you'll ideally need a replacement axle as well.

If you are planning on doing this yourself, you will need an appropriate
bearing extractor/replacer tool, otherwise the whole knuckle has to be
removed so the bearing can be pressed out and the new one pressed in. The
two lower control arms are connected to the knuckle with one long 14mm (?)
bolt. These bolts often rust solid in the knuckle, and require some
persuasion to remove. One way is to heat the knuckle with an oxy torch. This
bolt has to be removed so the axle can pulled out of the hub.

Otherwise, have the dealer do it.

SD

Supposedly, it is extremely important to replace the bearing in a
proper press. I've read reports of replacement bearings going bad soon
after installation. Oh, and at one time, there was confusion as to
whether the bearing was pre-greased or just had some protective
'cosmolene-type' stuff on it. Maybe someone here will know - if in
doubt, install your own grease.

 

[basia]

My 2001 Forester with 117K miles has come down with an
obvious case of the rear wheel bearing blues. For the
past 15K miles the noise has been getting louder and
I wonder how far I can safely drive the car before it
becomes essential to replace them.

They don't just go louder and louder indefinetely.
I'd say replace them once they become loud.

Basia

 

[zwols]

My 2001 Forester with 117K miles has come down with an
obvious case of the rear wheel bearing blues. For the
past 15K miles the noise has been getting louder and
I wonder how far I can safely drive the car before it
becomes essential to replace them. Somebody said in
a thread here that the noise gets really loud, but I
read that posting a long time ago and I doubt if I
could find it in the many, many threads here about the
infamous bearing problem.

 

[idfixitnow]

My 2001 Forester with 117K miles has come down with an
obvious case of the rear wheel bearing blues. For the
past 15K miles the noise has been getting louder and
I wonder how far I can safely drive the car before it
becomes essential to replace them. Somebody said in
a thread here that the noise gets really loud, but I
read that posting a long time ago and I doubt if I
could find it in the many, many threads here about the
infamous bearing problem.

The problem with your approach is that right now, your wheel bearing
replacement is probably quite cheap--perhaps just the cost of someone
slapping some greased up new bearings in.

If you delay that fix and wait for them to fail and explode, as
happened to a friend of mine on a minivan, shrapnel generated from
that catastrophic bearing failure may well take out some rather pricey
ABS components and suddenly your $X repair will now cost $10*X or
even more.

 

[Robert L. Wilson]

CR reports on car reliability do have one possible problem (at least): A
Porsche or Ferrari driver is (in general) more likely to care about his/her
car, pay attention to it, notice (and remember when filling out the form)
whatever might go wrong. Someone who drives your generic bourgemobile is
much less likely even to understand what a mechanic says is wrong in the
event the car does go in for work, and also likely not to notice things that
are going wrong. So I think that reports on cars more likely to be bought
and driven by real car nuts are likely to get graded down: When something
like Porsche does get good grades, they must be really good. This is not a
complaint about CR, although I do have some: I don't know how to produce a
questionaire that, reliably, has the reporter report on his/her
understanding of what a car really does!
(I have, in addition to my Subys, driven Alfa Romeos for years, with
excellent reliability from my 1960 car on down the years. My Plymouths,
Fords, etc. left me stranded on the road, but not my Alfas. But I do pay
attention to what my cars are telling me and fix things before they get
really bad.)
Bob Wilson