wheel bearing replacement interval?
 

I know they're must be threads on this...but my search came up with nothing (mobile site never works the same).

my friends with Miatas install new wheel bearings at LEAST once per year. I never run R-comps, but is this something I should be doing often as well? I only run R-S3s at track/auto-x. I do 2-3 a-X events per year and three track days, if I'm lucky. car has 115k miles on the chassis. I've owned the car less than a year, previous owner never tracked it.

can any of the track guys please chime in? thanks in advance.

+1

Curious as well. Funny, I just checked my wheel bearings via the shake method and they seem good.

Car has 51k on the clock and 25+ HPDEs on Z1s so take that FWIW.

IMO with the sealed bearing design on the evo, and the way its mounted, the typical shake method isn't as accurate as on other cars that have the replaceable bearings that you grease up. This is just my input from working on other typed of cars with bad wheel bearings and diagnosing my evo with bad wheel bearings.

There isn't really a service interval for bearings, and to really diagnose it you gotta tear into the car a little more and have some tools. The fsm has a few guidelines using endplay, but iirc you have to remove the axle out of the bearing. I had to remove the complete bearing/hub assembly out of the car and spin it by hand, then and only then I could feel, and hear the wear on the bearing. I posted a thread with a video on it a while ago. Imo, if you haven't replaced them yet and your at 115k miles and you track it, then its not a bad idea to replace them sometime in the near future. If they aren't noisy or bad at the very least you will reduce some rolling resistance with a fresh set of wheel bearings.

somethings not rt with the info from your buds.. Think about it, if the bearings needed replacing they would be on the basic maintenance record to be serviced at some interval--, 10k, 20k, 30k and thats not the case. What are your midas buddies driving and are you sure they are talking not repacking bearings once a year for service on something other then an EVO? Just asking because if you got 100k out of your bearings under normal driving, then it would take more then an AX to cause premature wear of roughly 10x. They are big ass sealed bearings.

Ive never done bearings on a Miata but if his friends miatas are regularly tracked and the bearings are simple to repack, then I can see why maybe someone might just go ahead and do it for maintenance.

it's actually Miatas, not Midas. these cars see lots of action on r-comps: miata challenges, a-x, lots of HPDE. these miatas get worked. one is a turbo charged beast.

also: I think most of us are beyond routine scheduled maintenance. we are always replacing all kinds of stuff most people would never consider. lol
I could see wheel bearing being one of them.

considering my mileage, I'd like to replace all...just hoping I don't need to for another 50k miles, or so. they are quite expensive..

yeah about as expensive as $308 expensive.

that is pricey when changed as often as I have been led to believe, especially when added to the cost of other items that wear quickly during harder driving.

I changed both fronts at around 75k after a dozen or so HPDEs. I could hear them grinding/crunching when turning and they failed the "shake test".

A new set should last you for another 50k. {thumbup}

I'm thinking so. I don't drive the car daily, so should be good. not a bad investment for a few years of service.

now I gotta find a decent brand. oem seems harder to find, but most distributors have a ton of different brands.

I got the Timkens from rockauto.com

you beat me to it. I get most of my replacement parts from them. Good eye, brotha.