CTA4AVANT

.......I have my pads and rotors replaced soon? I was wondering if it would be cost effective to do all 4 wheel bearings at the same time the brakes are done.

I have no record of wheel bearings being replced and I am getting a high pitched whine from my car that goes away when the wheel is turned slightly to the right at 30-40 mph.

I am having my independent mechanic do the work as I don't have the time, facility or mechanical apptitude to do the work.

CAR INFO:

1998.5 A4 Avant 2.8L 30V V6 (Quattro) w/ 5 Speed.

98,000 miles

S7

It should shave an hour off labor.

halik

If they can pull the bearings off the uprights without taking them off, then it would save time and presumably you could work out some kind of deal with the mechanic.

That being said, if he has to take them off to press the bearings out, you wont save much time at all.

I just did rear passenger bearing this past weekend and it's not really that diffucult, so long you know a machine shop that will press it out for ya.

Captain Sensible

I have the same car with 103K miles and agree that you may well have a bad wheel bearing. Mine had similar symptoms (loud as a 4wd truck on mud tires at low speeds and quiet at high speed) and just had the left rear wheel bearing done for $277 (2.5hr labor + $70 for the part). I seriously doubt that much of the labor was for pulling off the brakes so, if you do more than just the bad one, you're probably just going to pay almost $250 per wheel replacing bearings that are still good. My mechanic is an honest guy and, if you asked him to do it, he would either refuse the work or do it only after telling you that you're wasting your money. From everything I've experienced or read, wheel bearings make noise for a long, long time before they actually fail completely. Be advised, pre-emptive replacement is no guarantee • I saw a recent post from someone who replaced an original wheel bearing at 70K and had the replacement fail just 30K later.

My advice • wait until you can't stand the noise anymore and then replace just the bad one. Then again, if you have an extra $750 and can't find anything else to spend it on, go for all four.

CTA4AVANT

Thanks for all your replies. I appreciate the input!

RedBlackYellow

sure if you have a spare $400 at the time.