Chances are you’ve never really thought about your wheel bearings much while you’ve been driving around. The wheel bearings are what allows your wheels to keep spinning. They need to be as tough as possible to bear the entire weight of the vehicle. Your wheel bearings could last up to and over 100,000 kilometers or 60,000 miles. However they will eventually wear out and should be replaced.
The first sign of trouble is when your wheels groan. It could go away when you reach a certain speed then come back. Your Spectrum Car Center service technical will be able to analyse your bearings by wiggling the wheel. When the bearings are good the tire won’t move across the vertical axis when you hold the top and bottom of it.
Many modern vehicles have a kind of wheel bearing that can’t be serviced here at Spectrum Car Care. If we run into bad bearings then we’ll just take out and replace everything in the wheel bearing assembly.
If we can access your wheel bearings then we can perform preventive maintenance. If you’ve ever heard of the “pack the bearings” procedure it’s just when we take out the bearings, give them a good clean, and then inspect to see if there is any damage. If there’s no problem then we just reinstall them and give them a little grease. If not then we’ll replace them. Take a look at your owner’s manual and check with your Spectrum Car Care service advisor to see if you can have your bearings serviced and how often it should be done.
It’s important to take care of bad bearings. When your bearings start to go bad they can generate a lot of heat, which can lock your wheel. A locked wheel is bad news no matter your speed. It could even cause your wheel to come off entirely. Either way you’re looking at the potential for serious accidents. That’s why you should get your wheel bearings inspected at the first sign of trouble and replaced if necessary.