Hi all

I was at my local nct centre today getting my car tested .

In preparation I thought I had it passed , but however It failed on both front wheel bearings

Did anyone ever replace these bearings with out the need of an expensive press etc ..

People I have spoke to said that it is strange that both front wheel bearings would be worn at the same time

I have fk automotive coilovers in the car and they arnt set overly low (lowered 2.5 inches from stock springs ) . Would this contribute to worn bearings also ?

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Just to let you know that to constitute an MOT failure your wheel bearings MUST be below minimum standards. And minimum standards are not much higher than the floor, meaning that to fail they have to be knackered with a capital K. If you don't believe this is the case you can initiate an appeal with VOSA.

Lowered means increased camber and castor, which means more load on the wheel bearings. Also, whilst they didn't go at the same time as each other, mine did go within about 8_000 miles of each other (at over 100_000 miles).

 

Also, if you take Railroad's advice you can neither use the car legally nor get it repaired until after VOSA have inspected it.

The OP is in Ireland and has a NCT, not MOT so the stuff about appealing to VOSA may not be relevant. Chances are the bearings will need replacing at some point in the near future anyway so why bother appealing then have to replace them anyway a few weeks/months down the line?

 

Both of my front bearings failed at near enough the same time - one wheel had play in and was noisy, the other was just noisy. I had both mine replaced at a garage at the same time. If you DIY it and do it wrong then you could damage the bearing when pressing it in, I thought it was worth getting the garage to do it with the proper tools.

 

Lowered means increased camber and castor, which means more load on the wheel bearings. Also, whilst they didn't go at the same time as each other, mine did go within about 8_000 miles of each other (at over 100_000 miles).

 

Also, if you take Railroad's advice you can neither use the car legally nor get it repaired until after VOSA have inspected it.

 

Not sure how the castor angle would be affected by lowering or how it would have any measurable effect on wheel bearing life. I doubt that a small camber change would have much effect on wheel bearing life either.

The OP is in Ireland and has a NCT, not MOT so the stuff about appealing to VOSA may not be relevant. Chances are the bearings will need replacing at some point in the near future anyway so why bother appealing then have to replace them anyway a few weeks/months down the line?

 

Both of my front bearings failed at near enough the same time - one wheel had play in and was noisy, the other was just noisy. I had both mine replaced at a garage at the same time. If you DIY it and do it wrong then you could damage the bearing when pressing it in, I thought it was worth getting the garage to do it with the proper tools.

 

 

Not sure how the castor angle would be affected by lowering or how it would have any measurable effect on wheel bearing life. I doubt that a small camber change would have much effect on wheel bearing life either.

If you view the car from the side, the castor angle is determined by the horizontal and vertical separations between the kingpin swivels (or ball joint and top mount if you prefer)(arcsine (horizontal/vertical)). If you reduce the vertical separation (which I trust you'll agree will happen when you lower the car) then clearly that fraction becomes larger, and hence the KPI becomes greater.

When you increase the KPI, the self-centring effect of the castor becomes greater, and hence you increase pressure on the wheel bearings. Whether or not the effect of this is measurable is certainly arguable, but the fact of the effect is demonstrated.

 

In any event, back at the OP, we appear to be in agreement that wheel bearings can and do wear out at times that are close if not the same.

Thanks guys for all your replys

The car is an Irish car and all I'll have to do is replace them and run it through the nct again and more than likely it will pass this time around ..

@vrstom yea as you said there I wouldn't have the correct tools for this particular job so I may just save myself the time and effort and get my local mechanic to do it [emoji108]

I'll let you all know how I get on with the test !

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Yes you can.IF you are VERY careful with a 4" grinder,but it is a real SOB job without the right tools.

  The only real tools you need is the bearing splitter, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-PCS-BEARING-SPLITTER-GEAR-PULLER-FLY-WHEEL-SEPARATOR-SET-WITH-BOX-TOOL-KIT-/271558705091 ,the small round one,and I use the vice to press it in,slowly,and the old bearing to finish it. I do not know the seller,the link is for illustration purposes only.

 These cut the work time in half.

 There are probably a dozen people who will contradict me,but it works for me 

One of mine is up to 240k miles, the other I replaced at about 220k, so they can last quite some time (stock suspension though)!