Fabia VRS Wheel Bearings ???

[Monty]

I think one of my front wheel bearings is on the way out, over the last week or so I have noticed a kind of a groaning noise when at constant speed or coasting to a halt, yes it changes tone slightly when I turn left or right.

I have checked tyre pressures (all OK) and I have it booked in at the dealership tomorrow for a check as they couldn't look at it on Saturday am when I went in.

Its just that when I search through the other peoples posts there is quite a number of mentions of Fabia wheel bearing incidents, but not everybody has updated their thread to say if it was or wasn't.

So I was just wondering how many people have had Fabia (VRS or non-VRS) wheel bearings replaced ? and is it a common fault ?

I'll update this thread once mine has been in.

PS car is just over 2yr old with 31k miles, not a lot for a wheel bearing to be going faulty me thinks.

[sbarker]

I had mine changed on my VRs at 32K miles, they changed both as got the wrong side first time round .. got progressively worse making loud droan on motorway speeds. Once changed though noise was cured .. sold the car then though and bought a new VRs

[Monty]

I had mine changed on my VRs at 32K miles, they changed both as got the wrong side first time round .. got progressively worse making loud droan on motorway speeds. Once changed though noise was cured .. sold the car then though and bought a new VRs

Thats a better description of the type of noise a ' DROAN ', although noticable on mine, its not really that loud yet.

[devonutopia]

Sounds like bearing to me. Don't worry about driving it on a howling bearing, as they get noisy, but never deteriorate to the point of a wheel falling off or something like that. I've tried turning a duff bearing once out of my hub and its hard to tell its actually gone.

Not sure what can make bearings go a bit early. Abuse on track / fast cornering won't help. Could simply be a dodgy batch out the factory as they come totally sealed right off the production line.

[Quetz VRS]

I was told that VW use's Tappered Bearings, and they are not the sturdiest on the market, tough I am cursed with a 1.3 Felicia atm, I guess the VRS uses the same kind of tappered bearing. I had one go after 9000 miles :S

This maybe the case, but maybe not, just saying what I heard from my mechanic

Q

[Gadge]

When I had my Fabia one went at 18k (04 reg), fixed under warrenty, as said above it was a loud drone and seems a common fault.

[Decron]

Mine front offside bearing went at 16k on my 55 plate and the dealer said they had "never" done one on a VRS before (Can't see why it would be different to other Furby bearings) and "The car must have been driven hard". I laughed so hard it hurt, then I had a bit of a tiff with the service manager who gladly saw the customer was in this case right nad fixed it under warranty.

Bearings are funny things. if they are put in even slight out of line or there is the wrong amount of grease they fail early. If the hub is tourqed up wrong the fail early. I have fitted bearings to cars and had them go in 2k, crap parts, crap tech etc Think of what the component does, it supports the load on the wheel, whilst facilitating the transmission of power to the wheel, has to deal with the heat from the brakes and there is no way of lubricating it once it's in. I am surprised more don't fail. I don't belive the Furby to be any worse than many other cars out there for this but if they do go on a car so new then there should be no question of it being under warranty.

The job only take two hours BTW

Also, front bearings are usually not of the tapered variety, it's usually the rears (Sits and recalls long days and night spent replacing endless bearings in every Vauxhall and Austin owned over the years)

[Chris GB]

Also' date=' front bearings are usually not of the tapered variety, it's usually the rears (Sits and recalls long days and night spent replacing endless bearings in every Vauxhall and Austin owned over the years)[/quote']

Been there / done that. Used to collapse a set of MkII Cavalier rear bearings in around 5,000 miles. Got changing them down to a matter of minutes a side with practice. Dont think they were designed for the sort of grip that Bilstiens and Yoko A008 could serve up. Remember the wedge (Princess) and its front hub with the inner race and outer tapered washer? Truly deeply cack design.

Chris

[Decron]

Remember the wedge (Princess) and its front hub with the inner race and outer tapered washer? Truly deeply cack design.

Chris

'Shudder' :orb_scare

I am going to have problems sleeping now you have stirred deeply supressed memories.

As my Grandfather would say (Still a practicing MOT tester "Tighten it up till it strips and then slack it back half a turn..."

[Chris GB]

'Shudder' :orb_scare

I am going to have problems sleeping now you have stirred deeply supressed memories.

As my Grandfather would say (Still a practicing MOT tester "Tighten it up till it strips and then slack it back half a turn..."

Sorry to bring back the trauma.

One of them wedges that resulted in me braking my foot. Got so p*ssed off with it that I kicked and pushed it really hard, the car rocked and propmtly fell off the stands and landed on my foot disc first. Which hurt a bit.

Best bit of the hub design was that if the race failed (which IIRC it did often), it would most times take out the whole hub as the washer chewed up its mating face. I know a lot of people lost their jobs when BL went under, but lets face it, it did us a favour.

Chris

[Decron]

Had a similar incident with a Sherpa van...

[Monty]

The update is that my car is still in the garage: After changing one wheel bearing, they think the other one is also on the way out. So they offered me a courtesy car and will call me tomorrow to pick my car up once its ready.

So looks like two wheel bearings gone at the same time.

The courtesy car is an 06 reg. 1.4tdi Fabia Estate and I'm quite impressed.

[Monty]

Car all fixed and back to normal :)

Both front wheel bearings were replaced because they were faulty, they must have been on the way out for a while as the car is a lot quieter now and I just didn't notice the excess noise until the last couple of weeks.

Excellent service from the dealer i.e. Ingram of Ayr who replaced the bearings under warranty no questions asked, plus offered courtesy car when my car was going to be in overnight (just had to take in insurance doc's to be covered). And they called me to let me know what was happening.

Ingram of Ayr

And finally a thumbs up for the courtesy car a Fabia 1.4Tdi estate, pulls well, well kitted out, liked the seats felt like VRS shape but better colour than the vrs grey.

[Tech1e]

Sounds like you had a Bohemia then, special edition

Glad the car is sorted.

[Dread1977]

Can someone advise me please, I have questioned a droaning noise on my 55 plate VRS for months now with my dealer, and he informed me that they will only replace 1 bearing under warranty so if they get the wrong one, skoda UK or CH will not allow them to replace the other one.... Am i being spun a load of crap here? the car is almost 2 years old so still under manufacturer warranty not extended. what shall i do???? the noise has been there since I had the clutch replaced due to creeping... the car was 4 months old when that was done, its been droning ever since, and really annoys me on motorways, feels like im driving over cats eyes the whole time.. any help much appreciated.

[sooz]

Hello

My Fabia Vrs is in the garage as I speak! 2nd time in two weeks - Cleaned out the wheel and brakes assuming that it was a trapped stone first time round. Have just rung them and they are still mystified as to what the problem is. Grinding sound as the front LH wheel turns.....

Will let you know what they say .:confused:

[sooz]

Hello

My Fabia Vrs is in the garage as I speak! 2nd time in two weeks - Cleaned out the wheel and brakes assuming that it was a trapped stone first time round. Have just rung them and they are still mystified as to what the problem is. Grinding sound as the front LH wheel turns.....

Will let you know what they say .:confused:

Collected it after some time - couldn't work out the problem until changing all the tyres around - the noise changed to the rear......TYRE WEAR !!

[wja96]

I've got 2 rear tyres that are 'out-of-round' and they drum in a most unpleasant way. Although the non-roundness is most likely a manufacturing fault, no-one will replace them under warranty. I'm currently badgering Bridgestone as they're 2 years old and have done almost 60K miles but still have about 4mm of treat left. At this rate, they'll still be drumming away at 100K miles.