front wheel hub bearing question (when to replace)

[stonehenge]

Did a search, unable to find this question/answer etc.

Anyways, its a 99' old body style, 2 door, cream puff, crazy low miles, no water submersion for the front wheel hubs.

When do you replace the front wheel hubs, they aren't serviceable to my knowledge and we have owned the car since new, its almost 24 years old.

I rotate my own tires, do my own brakes, lube the grease points and even paint my wheel wells. So I'm up under there for service often and there is no drag or noise, but was still wondering if there is a tell tale sign or service life.

Any help in this inquire is much appreciated.

thx

 

[Tonyv__]

Well I’m not happy to report my 2015 with 64k miles needs a hub/bearing as we speak… my 00 that I had for about 5 years needed hubs at about 175k. No service history though so I don’t know if they were original or replaced before

 

[mb1500]

I only replace when bad I’ll do the pair or if otherwise doing a full resto I would replace while I was replacing everything else.

 

[stonehenge]

Any help on "when they go bad" I have heard humming noise they might be bad, I have heard if they bind or grind, they might be bad. I have heard if the wheel is difficult to free spin when on a lift.

 

[Tonyv__]

Any help on "when they go bad" I have heard humming noise they might be bad, I have heard if they bind or grind, they might be bad. I have heard if the wheel is difficult to free spin when on a lift.

So mine you can actually wobble the wheel ever so slightly. It’s easy to feel when one side is tight and the other is loose. Hard to explain kinda

 

[mb1500]

They can present in different ways, typically a speed based noise/ vibration. Here is a quick basic video on how to check if there is obvious play.

Rear axle does have a small amount of in/out play STD so ignore that.

 

[stonehenge]

thx for all the replies. I guess run it until its bad or the wheel fly's off, lol

 

[Swagfu]

If you are so concerned about it, why not just go ahead and change them now? Any time I start to worry about a part that I think may be near the end of life I would just change it. But that's me. Not everyone changes parts before they break.

 

[stonehenge]

If you are so concerned about it, why not just go ahead and change them now? Any time I start to worry about a part that I think may be near the end of life I would just change it. But that's me. Not everyone changes parts before they break.

I have no issues buying parts for replacement, and they are not that expensive, nor are they hard to replace.

I was merely looking for any advice on "when" should they be replaced. Maybe at a certain mileage, etc. Couldn't find anything in the manual, so I came here.

 

[Eman85]

The hubs on a 99 from the factory are so much better than any junk you'll replace them with I'd leave them alone and find something else to do. Worst case scenario is the hub does go bad and you'll have to replace it, then you'll probably have to replace it again and again as the new junk won't last. If you look at how it's made the bearing can disintegrate and the wheel won't come off.