esanmiguel

I had a rumbling noise (like running on 4x4 tires) for a couple of months now and I could have sworn that they were my tires. So when I got new tires last week, I was hoping that the noise would go away and that it wouldnt be a bearing issue. Well, turns out the rear right wheel had a pretty bad bearing. There is acutally a small play when I shook the rear wheel back and forth while up in the air. It may also explain an off spec camber reading on this side of the wheel. Anyway, I guess these bearing are built around the hub assembly and they are not as cheap as regular wheel bearings. I got it changed for $160 at a local VW shop. Now the car is very quiet. The red arrow shows where little pieces of plastic that hold the bearings together broke off. Im pretty sure they are plastic or some other material aside from metal.

<img src="http://www.poshboxes.com/TT/bearing1.JPG">

<img src="http://www.poshboxes.com/TT/bearing2.JPG">

<img src="http://www.poshboxes.com/TT/bearing3.JPG">

TTrampa

Strange --the pieces are what is left of the bearing race. But what seems strange to me is to color of the grease... The consistency and color of the grease looks like what I used to dig out of my warner hubs on my old bobtail Bronco after I spent time crossing rivers. I water getting in there some how?

Russ Scott

yep, my right rear failed too. And it was caused by water that got past a defective seal. Oxidation apparently contaminated the grease, or rust ate into the race enough to cause the rapid wear and noise. The bits you found may be a broken seal. If they are it explains the admission of water. You don't have to cross rivers etc, normal heat cycling and condensation will provide enough water to do the trick when a seal is gone.
Another idea... loss of preload can cause this type of bearing to fail too. You can "preventively" re torque the big nut at the center of the wheel after a reasonable run-in period with the new bearing (all of the wheels actually), to maintain the preload over the long haul...

formulanerd

to do this yourself?

sTTevo

I had noisy RR bearing too. Audi replaced it 6 months ago. Now noise is back. WTF?