Going through things after 185k and wonder about wheel bearings. Are the good until they make noise or is there a benefit to replacing the bearing and hub early?


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More or less, they're good till they're not. You can absolutely change them as preventative, and I've done that on other vehicles (my wifes commuter, she was doing 500 miles a week through BFE Wyoming, half on Monday and half on Friday ~ I didn't want her to have issues). Just depends on your level of risk tolerance.

I'll probably replace mine before they fail as I go in and do the rear seals (there's a little goo in the ABS area) and when I put manual hubs on the front (fuel economy, because I want to) just as a course of addressing age, known failure points and doing mods. But I don't worry about them. I remember driving a car on a road-trip where one went out over 600 miles from home. Howled the whole way home, which was annoying, but it never felt unsafe.

You can also feel the bearings and see if they are warn.. when you spin them they should he very smooth and free of play. :]

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They are noisy when they start to eat themselves and give you plenty of warning. For reference the only 2 times I've seen bad bearings they were presumably stock bearings with over 300k.

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Plan on at least 300K on front and rear wheel bearings with conventional use. You're better off not messing with them at all til after that. I can verify that with 3 original bearing rigs I ran over that.

390,000 kms and my front bearings are still fine. Had to replace the rears because of the axle seal leak @ 350,000 kms. When bearings start to fail, they make noise which gradually gets worse over time. Even when they make noise there's usually a ton of time left of which you'd have to be severely negligent for the wheels to fall off. Keep in mind that the front bearings are significantly beefier than the rears...there is ALOT of room left for error from the time they start making noise to when they are no longer safe.

I agree with dotail and underfire. I would seriously consider changing all wheel bearings by 300K . Can they last longer then that... In certain conditions sure they can lost longer.. However, think of how many revolutions those wheel bearings did at 300K miles. If they are not going bad by then.. They will be on the way to failing.

At that mileage, leave them alone unless they are giving you problems.