Whirring wheels: How to change your wheel bearing in seven simple steps

Performance car parts and accessories

If you can hear a clunking, whirring or whistling noise coming from any one of your car’s four wheels, chances are you may need to replace a wheel bearing. Luckily, doing this shouldn’t take too long and -more importantly – it won’t break the bank.

Brush up on your engineering skills and roll up your sleeves, here’s our DIY guide to changing your wheel bearings in seven simple steps.

Loosen up

Once you’ve found the troublesome bearing, crack the lug nuts on the wheel in question with a socket and bar. It’s important to do this before jacking it up, as trying to crack nuts with one wheel in the air could cause the jack to slip – a factor that could result in a serious injury.

Jack it up

Once you’ve cracked each of the lug nuts, find the nearest jacking point to the wheel in question. Once it’s jacked, you should be able to feel some slight movement on the wheel itself – this is caused by the broken bearing.

Unscrew and pop off

Because you’ve already loosened the lug nut, removing them shouldn’t take too long at all. Ideally, this should be done using an impact wench, although a standard ratchet will do just fine.
Once every nut has been removed, gently rock the wheel from side to side until it’s loose. After you’ve done this, wheel it out of the way and clean the area using some roll or a rag.

Finally, remove the brake caliper and the rotor using a socket and ratchet. Again, you’ll stand a much better chance of seeing what you’re doing once the parts are clean, so keep an old rag or some roll handy.

Hub apart

Using a special ‘puller’ tool, a hammer and a wrench, remove the end of the hub and the central bolt. Doing this should be relatively straight forward – although you shouldn’t hesitate in asking for professional help should you need it.

Once this has been done, you should be able to access the bearing in question.

Now for the tough bit…

Now’s the time to get that dodgy bearing out once and for all. For this you’ll need to break the bearing itself – which means reaching for either a hammer or a grinding tool.  Make sure every piece of bearing is removed before inserting the new one, as even the smallest shard of loose metal can cause colossal damage.

Once removed, clean the entire area before applying grease.

Out with the old

And in with the new. Install the new bearing with care, using a chock of wood to protect it from the hammer. Keep applying grease where you can as this will help the new bearing to bed in.

Pop it all back together

With all the tricky bits done and your new bearing in place, now’s the time to pop it all back together and give your car a solid road test. Simple!

For all your wheel bearing needs, be sure to check out Car Parts 4 Less – your one stop shop for discount car parts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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