Wheel bearing after MOT test

DevilsAdvocate1

Hi,

My car passed its MOT test on February 15th. Last week I noticed that the exhaust was very loud, so booked it in to have this replaced. This has been done, but I've been told that wheel bearing on the driver side front wheel is worn and that there is a lot of play on the wheel. I've been told that its dangerous to drive.

Can a wheel bearing go so quickly? Its done 1000 miles since the MOT test. I've not heard any noised coming from it. There is no knocking noise. The garage said that if I hear a knocking noise I'm to stop driving it immediately. What would happen if it went when I was driving?

Thanks.

Lorian

Quickfit?


What part of fitting an exhaust involves looking at your wheel bearings?

paddedjohn

So you took it in to get the exhaust done and they found a faulty wheel bearing? First thing to do is get a second opinion as it sounds like they could be looking for work. As far as passing the test goes I anything can happen as soon as the car has left the testing station.

facade

DevilsAdvocate1 wrote: »

Hi,

What would happen if it went when I was driving?

Thanks.

The wheel would tilt, jam solid in the brake calliper, and the car would swing to the right, into the path of oncoming traffic.

As you are quite aware that it is dangerous to drive like it, you would be to blame 100%, and if it was my car you crashed into I would certainly never go to work again, and your insurance would foot the bill, and then sue you for their money back.

Get it fixed, or at least checked to see if it has gone.

Joe_Horner

First question - was this a national chain of exhaust fitters by any chance?

Next question - what's the car?

While waiting for the answers, yes, wheel bearings can (apparently) fail quite suddenly because they have an enormously difficult job 9carrying roughly a quarter of the weight of the car while spinning at maybe 15 times a second, while being splashed with the worst our roads can throw at them and taking every pot-hole with only the tyre to cushion them. So, when the case hardening fails they start to wear quickly.

But it's very unlikely that they'd go suddenly - and silently - to the point where you've got "lots of play and it's dangerous".


eta: Good point above about how did an exhaust change throw up a wheel bearing (unless it was a national chain by any chance?)

Also, I've known some seriously worn wheel earings in my time but I've never seen, or even heard of from a reliable source, of one collapsing in use. You'd be deafened by the howl long before that happened!

DevilsAdvocate1

Joe_Horner wrote: »

First question - was this a national chain of exhaust fitters by any chance?

Next question - what's the car?

While waiting for the answers, yes, wheel bearings can (apparently) fail quite suddenly because they have an enormously difficult job 9carrying roughly a quarter of the weight of the car while spinning at maybe 15 times a second, while being splashed with the worst our roads can throw at them and taking every pot-hole with only the tyre to cushion them. So, when the case hardening fails they start to wear quickly.

But it's very unlikely that they'd go suddenly - and silently - to the point where you've got "lots of play and it's dangerous".


eta: Good point above about how did an exhaust change throw up a wheel bearing (unless it was a national chain by any chance?)

Also, I've known some seriously worn wheel earings in my time but I've never seen, or even heard of from a reliable source, of one collapsing in use. You'd be deafened by the howl long before that happened!

No it wasn't. It was a Peugoet dealership. They said they would also do a full vehicle health check while it was there. It came out on this.

facade

Actually, after my scaremongering, what usually happens is the wheel tilts sideways a little bit, and pushes the brakepads into the calliper.
Then the first press of the brake pedal has the pedal go down almost to the floor, repeated presses bring the pedal back up and straighten the wheel, and after a few yards the pedal will go down too far again.

As Joe says, the bearings usually make a lot of noise by this point.

jimjames

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Also, I've known some seriously worn wheel earings in my time but I've never seen, or even heard of from a reliable source, of one collapsing in use. You'd be deafened by the howl long before that happened!

Exactly. On a trip to Germany a few years ago we heard a rumbling noise and vibration from one of the front wheels. 800 miles driving fairly cautiously back gave excellent MPG but it was very obvious the wheel bearing was on it's way from the noise and vibration so you couldn't miss it.

bigjl

facade wrote: »

Actually, after my scaremongering, what usually happens is the wheel tilts sideways a little bit, and pushes the brakepads into the calliper.
Then the first press of the brake pedal has the pedal go down almost to the floor, repeated presses bring the pedal back up and straighten the wheel, and after a few yards the pedal will go down too far again.

As Joe says, the bearings usually make a lot of noise by this point.

Can't say I have ever seen or heard of a wheel bearing failing like this.

A noisy wheel bearing can often soldier on for many thousands of miles, particularly if the wear is so slight that it wasn't spotted by an MOT Tester when they spun the wheels during a test.

Even a Pug/Citroen with the rear bearings on the way out with the rear wheel tilting in wildly will carry on for many thousands of miles.

A bottom ball joint failing is one of the most common reasons for a cars front suspension to collapse.

My wife's Accent had a noisy wheel bearing for over a year, it would only make noise at higher speeds and was never driven at higher speeds very often, and it was quiet with no roughness or play when checked at MoT time.

The wheel never tilted in, the wheel never came off, nothing.

When we gave it away (for the price of the RFL at the time) the new owner did the bearing, said the car never drove any differently before or after, just made less noise afterwards.

[Deleted User]

Jack it up yourself and do a top and bottom shake.should nt be much play. They start to whine and rumble if I remember correctly and the front wheel bearing is much harder to do than the easy rears with an enormous torque on the big nut. I had to buy a special big socket and get a long extender pipe to shift the nut and then heat up the casting to knock out the old bearing.Its a job for the pro s, I would nt do it again, and I would nt feel too safe knowing the bearing is overheating a bit with all the play. I d get it done, and the other side as well if its got too much play now. My partners old Fiat Pandas front wheel collapsed and she was lucky to be crawling along at 20 mph and escaped ok.

gazapc

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Also, I've known some seriously worn wheel earings in my time but I've never seen, or even heard of from a reliable source, of one collapsing in use. You'd be deafened by the howl long before that happened!

I've had a near side bearing collapse on my old Beetle. Going around a modest corner at only 30mph or so felt a sudden judder and then a fair bit of play in the steering.

However still controllable at low speed and I managed to drive a further half a mile or so to a safe point to stop.

Turned out the inner bearing had collapsed and the hub was at a funny angle in relation to the stub axle. This was due to water leaking down the speedo cable passed a perished rubber seal into the hub. Reason why it hadn't been heard? Probably because I had recently fitted a new louder exhaust