Hi.

One of my front wheel bearings is on it's way out.... you get the grinding rumble as slow as 30mph... but not all the time... maybe every other day for a couple of minutes... i drive about an hour in total a day.

My mechanic can't get to it before Christmas but told me that as long as I'm not stupid it'll be fine to go from London to Nottingham and back.

He was aiming to do it last week when he also aimed to change the front bushes which have both broken in two... these still need doing too and it clunks a bit but he assures me it's safe on that front... nothing can fall off..

So, basically.. I'm asking if I should trust this bearing on the motorway? Is it gunna seize solid and send me spinning off? :-(.. maybe I should stop half way (a little over an hours driving at that point) for 15min to let the bearing cool down?

Thoughts? Help? Guidance?

Rob.

Hire a car for the trip? It *might* be ok, but I'd not want to risk being stranded anywhere at this time of year

Chris

i personnaly wouldnt risk it been in a car when a wheel bearing failed and it wasnt a nice experience

ScoobyChris: Wouldn't be stranded long.. AA member with the "take me where I tells u" membership plan...

TDi Vrs: What happened when the bearing went.. and did the driver / owner know how bad it was before it went or was it out of the blue?

ScoobyChris: Wouldn't be stranded long.. AA member with the "take me where I tells u" membership plan...

TDi Vrs: What happened when the bearing went.. and did the driver / owner know how bad it was before it went or was it out of the blue?

There is a chance the wheel can lock, and if it does...well I am sure you can think of the worst scenario...

As Chris says hire a car for the trip, better to be safe than sorry as they say.

ScoobyChris: Wouldn't be stranded long.. AA member with the "take me where I tells u" membership plan...

Yeh, I've got that cover too, but it might not work out quite too well at this time of year. My Passat started giving me bearing "messages" back in April, when a trip to Oxford was required (from South of Edinburgh), I didn't think twice about hiring a car - I eventually had the bearings changed a couple of weeks ago - in the intervening period daily journeys were kept down to 15 miles to and from work.

Last time I had a wheel bearing go I thought that it would be OK to drive but the garage had a fit (and I took their advice). Apparently the wheel can sheer off if the bearing fails.

I would hire a car rather than have an accident. Often if you ask a car hire place for a VAT receipt they give you a business rate which I've found to be about 60% of that of consumer plus they give you £0 excess and unlimited mileage.

Or can you not go in to somewhere like KwikFit who will charge more but probably do the job today or tomorrow at the latest.

There'll probably be a load of disparaging remarks about KwikFit posted but they've fitted a number of wheel bearings for me and were totally fine and very kwik.

I think that the mobile vans are also equipped to do this (last time I had mine done, they brought a van to the garage to do it) if you have to work and can't get to a garage.